Chrono Cross: Forever Zero
by Crossing Dreamer Silverdramon
Summary: It’s been a year since the Time Devourer's defeat and things have been peaceful, that is until one day someone resembling Dark Serge A.K.A Lynx shows up in Arni, amnesia-stricken, confused with questions he believes only Serge can answer. REPOSTED
1. Chapter 1 Returning to Normal

**AN:** Um Yeah I reposted the entire story, because when I first wrote this I had not beaten the game "correctly" having killed off Schala rather than saving her (I was lazy that and the Time Devourer kept pissing me off and breaking the chain so I had to teach it a lesson not to mess with meh). Since then, I've managed to beat the game (the right way) and play nearly all the alternate endings (though I can't remember them all and I think I'm missing one, wait there are 12 endings in total right?)

Though I should say now in case anyone is wondering, that it's been nearly two years since the last time I played the game (the video store where I rented the game had sold it for like 3 bucks **T_T**)

Anyway for those of you that have read this story before, I'm still going with the idea that instead of merging both worlds in the end, they remain separate (by magical mean that I don't quite feel like discussing here). The distortions are closed and nothing can cross over from either world. supposedly **__**. If you haven't read this story then just ignore what I just said and move on. Yes I've realized that I'm ranting way too much **-__-**

**Summary:** It's been a year since the Time Devourer's defeat and things have been peaceful, that is until one day someone resembling Dark Serge (A.K.A Lynx) shows up in Arni, amnesia-stricken, confused and with questions he believes only Serge can answer. Who is he really and what connection does he have with Lynx? Or Serge?

(I suck at summaries **T_T**)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Chrono Cross, the only thing I do own in this fic are my OCs. Please leave a **review** and let me know if I'm on the right track**.**

**Code Thingy:**  
"Speaking"_  
'Thinking'**  
Words that express some meaning**_**  
ELEMENT/Tech**_  
--Flashback--_

**

* * *

Chapter 1: Returning to Normal**  
He was sitting down gazing at the ocean. Its waves crashing endlessly near the shore's sparkling white sand. He had been sitting there all alone for hours now, but he didn't care much about it, he was lost to his thoughts. Thinking about the adventure he had experienced with his friends over the last couple of days.

It wouldn't matter really, seeing as no one would ever remember anything about it, except maybe his allies that fought alongside him. His memories remained, but he was alone now and all he could think about was her.

_**Kid**__**...**_

She was a thief from a group known as the Radical Dreamers and had come across her at the beginning of his journey, as a matter of fact, she had saved his life when he first met her. Since then they had become friends, the hardships and struggles that came along, but in the end it all worked out and he ended up falling in love with the girl. But there was no way he could talk to her, let alone see her now, she was back in another world far from his reach. And even if he could somehow find her again, things would probably never be the same between them.

Because Kid was simply the daughter-clone of someone else.

_**Schala**__**...**_

His thoughts shifted to Schala a princess from a kingdom known as Zeal that had supposedly existed a long time ago. After a series of events in her time, Schala had been sent somewhere beyond time and space and was later imprisoned within a being known as Lavos. Lavos, an extraterrestrial being that was believed to have fallen from the heavens, buried itself into the Earth millions of years beforehand. This parasitic creature knew only evil and had intended to feed off the planet's essence.

It would have succeeded in the near future, but 20 years ago, its plans were foiled by three brave young heroes who discovered what would become of their planet and sought to change history for the better. They traveled from era to era acquiring assistance from the people of those times to help save the world, and destroy the creature that plagued their planet for so long.

Lavos was destroyed but it continued to live on in a place known as the Darkness Beyond Time, a place where those who no longer exist go when they are erased from history. It was then that it found and captured the princess, merging itself with her thus creating a new being that would be capable of destroying time altogether.

But the Chrono Trigger, named Serge along with the help of his friends were able to defeat the creature with the Legendary _**Chrono Cross**_, a powerful item which was in fact the 7th element of the unknown attribute. The Chrono Cross itself was created with the remains of two artifacts, artifacts that had belonged to the Dragon Gods.

The Dragon Tears.

One tear was from one world and a second tear from another. But both tears were shattered in a series of events that had happened earlier, its remnants were called the _**Tear of Hate **_and the _**Tear of Love**_. Later the two pieces of remaining tears came together, forming an object of great power and that's how the Chrono Cross came to be.

The melody created by the Chrono Cross was the only thing capable of destroying Lavos who after merging with Schala became known as the _**Time Devourer**_. The Chrono Cross was able to release the princess from her crystal prison and with that Serge saved the world as the previous Chrono trigger had done so. Though this time Lavos was truly dead.

But Serge wondered if it was truly over now that Schala was free what would happen to him? Or Kid? Everyone else?

_-- Serge, Kid, Glenn, and Schala made their way out of the darkness of time back and to Opassa Beach. The place was completely deserted. The strange ghost children that he had encountered in Terra Tower and in Opassa Beach were no longer there waiting for him. _

_"We're here," said Glenn as he walked around with both Einlanzers in his hands, he was surveying the area looking for anything suspicious. After realizing that there was no danger, the knight placed his swords away._

_"Angelus Errare," Schala spoke softly as she sat down, her finger tracing small circular patterns on the sand. Serge looked at kid, she merely shrugged at him providing no explanation. After a long silence Serge spoke, __"__So, what's next?"_

_"Yeah, we did our part," said Kid as she walked over to Schala; the thief still felt weird about Schala being her mother or that she really just a clone of her. The only person that was ever close to being family was Lucca, and Kid had always thought of her as her big sister. But Lucca was gone and there was no way that she was ever coming back. _

_"What's going to happen now that we destroyed that Time Devour thingy?" Schala turned around and looked at Serge then her attention was shifted towards Kid, she sighed and then answered. _

_"There's only one thing that can be done. Serge, do you still have the Time Egg with you?" _

_"Yeah." Serge nodded as he replied, he rummaged through one of his pockets in search for the item. Once he found it, he showed it to Schala. _

_"And Kid, do you have the Astral Amulet with you as well?" _

_"Of course though Serge actually has it. Why do ya ask?" said Kid as she walked over to Serge. He immediately handed her the Astral Amulet and Time Egg. _

_"I hate to do this, but it is necessary."_

_"What is?" Kid asked now worried. _

_"Though Lavos has indeed been destroyed, the gate to the Darkness of Time is still open. There is no telling what can occur if it remains open. Creatures from other dimensions may be sent there and it may be possible for them to break through and crossover into ours. It is necessary that I close the gate to ensure that nothing terrible happens again as it has these past few days. But in doing so all other gates will also be sealed. Do you understand what I mean by this?"_

_Serge nodded slowly while Glenn just frowned; they both understood what the princess had just said, they weren't to glad o hear it but knew that it had to be done. Kid however, remained clueless, Schala noticed this and knew that she would have to explain it to her, already she knew that Kid wasn't going to like this one bit._

"_The distortions that allows entrance to Chronopolis will be closed, along side the distortion that connects Serge__'__s world with the yours… I__'__m sorry Kid but this will be the last time that you can see Serge,__"__ Kid stood there, shocked by what Schala had said; unknowingly she dropped the two items Serge had given her. A soft thud was heard as the Time Egg and Astral Amulet hit the sand._

"_Kid?__"__ Said Serge as he walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder trying to get her to snap out of it. Glenn stared at his two friends before turning his attention to Schala. _

"_I know that you have to do this, but isn't there a way for just one distortion to be opened? We don't have to part ways completely. What about my…brother, won__'__t I at lease be able toe see him again?__"_

_Schala shook her head, __"__I__'__m deeply sorry Glenn, but the answer is no. There is more to this I__'__m afraid.__"_

"_What is it this time?__"__ Kid finally spoke._

"_As I must close the gateway to the other world, I must also make certain that no one knows about these events. Questions will surely be asked and who knows what consequences will arise from this__"_

"_So you__'__re going to make everyone forget about the events?__"__ Serge asked._

"_Yes, but the memories of the events will be replaced with other __**false**__ memories.__"__ Schala replied. Kid spoke again, __"__So that__'__s it eh? Erase everyone__'__s memories and switch them with some fake one__'__s, but what good will that do?__"_

_She stepped away from her friend as she stared at Schala in a fit of anger, __"__In case ya haven__'__t notice FATE is dead, the Dragon Gods are gone, and Terra tower is practically sticking out of what used to be Sky Dragon Island, ya don__'__t think no one is going to NOTICE!__"__ she yelled._

"_Kid, please calm down,__"__ Serge tried to calm her down._

"_DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN SERGE!!! SHE__'__S PROBABLY GOING TO ERASE OUR MEMORIES TOO, AREN__'__T YA? YER GONNA MAKE ME FORGET THAT YA EVER EXISTED? TELL ME WILL YA MAKE ME FORGET ABOUT EVER MEETING SERGE?__"_

"_Kid listen. As for the memories of you, Serge and your friends.__"__ Suddenly all of their friends from both worlds materialized out of nowhere wondering what was going on as they stood before the three friends and princess._

"_You all have a choice on whether you wish to keep your memories or not. Though you must choose wisely. If you choose to forget, you will not remember any of this ever happening. Whatever friendships, or commitments were made will be lost. Am I understood?__"_

_Everyone looked at each other thinking over what Schala had said; after a while they nodded except for Kid. __"__Why? Why did ya have to make my life so miserable? What did I ever do to ya?__"__ She stomped her foot and ran off crying. Serge knew that it had to be done, but wished that there w__ere__ another way. _

_But there was no way to prevent this, he and Kid had to face it that this would be the last time they would ever be together. He hoped that Schala would at least give them more time so that he could properly say goodbye to the girl that changed his life._

_Serge pleaded with Schala, __"__Please, we need more time.__"__ He said, Schala made no comment and nodded, she knew that Serge loved Kid, and that Kid felt the same way towards the blue haired teen. Serge ran in the same direction that Kid had run off to. On the other side of the beach Kid was sitting down hugging her knees, as she continued to sob softly to herself. _

"_Kid?__"__ Serge said as he sat down next to her. _

"_It__'__s okay Kid, I__'__m here see?__"__ He said as he places his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her. Kid looked up and saw her friend, his blue eyes starring right at her, __"__Serge, why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to lose those I love? First Lucca and now you, what will I do without ya?__"_

"_I know it__'__s a bit hard for all of us to handle, but you managed without me before we had even met remember? Kid, you__'__re a Radical Dreamer, and you__'__re tougher than that, __aren't__ you?__"__ He turned and faced her with a smile on his face._

_"I...well... you," Kid didn't know what to say as she thought for a second at what Serge had said to her. She had always alone especially after the orphanage she had once called home was burned down because of Lynx. She had no one to comfort her anymore, because the demon had taken Lucca away. Kid felt lost, until the blue haired stranger with bright blue eyes came to her rescue._

_Her "knight in shinning armor"_

_It was almost like a dream, that Serge had come to save her, holding her closely as he led her out of the burning inferno. He promised that he would never leave her and it was then that she fell in love with him. When she woke up she had found Serge there waiting for her, tears in his eyes as he embraced her in a heartfelt hug. It was then that she remembered the feelings she had always felt for him. But now, her one true love had to leave and she would never see him again. _

_Al thoughts pushed aside, Kid couldn't help but smile felling encouraged by Serge's words, __"__Course I am mate.__"__ She then proceeded to hugging her friend, __"__Thank you Serge.__"_

"_You__'__re welcome.__"_

_But then Kid remembered why she had been sad. __"__Serge? Schala is going to close the gate. If only I could stay here with you, but I know that I cannot, I don__'__t belong in this world. I__'__m never going see you again.__"_

"_I know Kid, I know,__"__ he replied._

_"Oh Serge, if only there was a way to get back.__"__ she said._

_"I'll find a way Kid, even if it takes forever I will find my way to the other world, and I__'__ll come back and get you, I promise." _

_He waited for the moment and when she least expected it, Serge inched closer and gave Kid a kiss. After a few seconds he pulled back and looked at the expression on her face. It was priceless, she was all wide-eyed, mouth wide open, and was in fact turning red._

_"I always wanted to do that," he said with a grin on his face. Kid regained composure and socked him in the arm. __"__Ergh! You!__"_

"_Heh you know you liked it,__"__ he teased._

"_It was just a little kiss," she countered trying to defend herself but she __had to admit that she __did like it, __though she wasn't going to admit that out loud to him right now__. Kid laughed __while__ Serge rubbed his arm, __"__Guess you__'__re back to normal.__"__ He said, Kid shrugged. _

"_So, then let__'__s get moving… Schala is waiting…__"__ He said, as he went ahead of her._

"_Serge? Wait,__"__ Kid said._

"_Hmm?__"_

"_About what you said…you know it won't be possible…__" _

_Serge turned around, __"__but I have to at least try… I just can__'__t leave you behind, after all you did for me it __wouldn't__ be right, and I__'__m not going to give up on you, not now, not ever,__"__ he said determined more than ever. He looked at Kid and watched as she pulled one of her hair bands, the one with a bow. She then placed it on the palm of his hand._

"_Uh Kid?__"__ he said as he looked at the object in his hand. __"__Something for you to remember me by just in case. But if ya do ever get back then I expect this back, ya hear?__"__ she said._

_Serge laughed, __"__Okay, okay. If I do then you can count on me to bring this back to you,__"__ he said as he placed the object inside his pocket. Kid leaned forward and kissed him in the lips, now it was her turn to watch as Serge turned red like a tomato._

_Afterwards, Kid followed him and returned back to Schala and the others. They realized that the members from Serge__'__s world had gone now, leaving the group from the other world. __"__I assume everything has been resolved?__"__ Schala asked. _

_Kid nodded, __"__Yeah, though I hate to admit it, it has to be done. So do yer worst.__"__ Schala made a face._

_"I'm just kiddin'," she said with a grin on her face._

_"Are you all ready?" _

_The remaining members nodded. Kid gave her the thumbs up. Schala had the Astral Amulet in one hand and the Time Egg in the other. She closed her eyes and raised her hands into the air while she began to chant in the ancient language of long ago. No one really understood what she was saying, and just watched as swirls of red and blue formed around her. After she finished, the swirls collided with each other and another portal had appeared. _

_She opened her eyes, and looked at everyone else. __"__The distortions have all been closed, only this gate remains open as the final door between both worlds. Those of you from the other world may pass through.__"_

_On cue, the remaining members that were from the other world stepped forward and after saying their goodbyes, they went through the portal one by one and back into their world. Glenn was one of the last to go through and mentioned that he would try to follow in his brother__'__s footsteps. _

"_Good luck,__"__ said Serge. He turned around and looked at Kid and Schala._

"_So, this is the end?__"__ Serge asked._

"_For now I guess,__"__ said Kid as she looked at Schala, before she made her way to the gate. _

"_Don't forget,__"__ she said finally as she came to a stop by the gate._

_"I won't," Serge replied, Kid winked at him and with that she walked through. Only Schala and Serge remained. Schala followed Kid's actions and stopped near the gate before she turned around to face Serge. _

"_Thank you Serge, for everything you did,__"__ she said as she bowed her head to him, Serge nodded and bowed his head in return. As she walked through the portal, everything around him started to get fuzzy. He was beginning to feel lightheaded as everything around him faded away. Yet somewhere in his mind he was sure that he heard something. _

_Schala spoke to him, __"__Don__'__t worry, we__'__ll meet again someday…__"__ A flash of white light shot out into the sky before it consumed everything. _

_"Serge?" _

_"Serge?" _

_He woke up and found Leena by his side, shaking him awake. She seemed really worried about him. "Serge? You're all right!" She said as she embraced her friend in a hug. After getting up, and dusting himself he asked Leena about Terra Tower and FATE, but Leena didn't seem to understand what he meant by that._

"_What are you talking about? Serge, we just started the summer. Let__'__s not ruin it with such nonsense.__"__ She frowned at first but then smiled and looked at the Komodo Scales in her hand. __"__These Scales will make a beautiful necklace, don__'__t you think Serge? Uh Serge?__"__ She turned around and noticed that Serge had now sat down, he __wasn't__ even paying attention to her. _

"_Serge?__"__ she asked as she knelt down next to him._

"_I-I need some time alone…__"__ he responded._

"_You just fainted Serge, you need to see the Chief.__"__ Leena responded as she felt Serge's forehead wondering if he had a fever, but he seemed okay to her. _

"_I__'__m fine,__"__ said Serge._

"_Um, okay.__"__ said Leena hesitatingly, she waited for a few seconds, but Serge __didn't__ turn around. She sighed and walked away sadly. -- _

* * *

Serge had been sitting down on the same spot for hours, thinking about those last minutes with his friends. He still remembered, but Schala was right, no one else remembered anything. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the red band that Kid had given him. He held it gently as if it was a prized possession, but to him it was.

Leena had left him for a while now, she had not even returned yet. He wasn't sure whether or not he should tell her about his experience, he had the feeling that she wouldn't believe it. But Serge's mother, she knew of some things that were critical in the events, could he bring himself to tell her what happened to him and what had become of his father?

There were so many things that needed to be settled, there was also something else. He had promised that he would come back, and he was determined to find a way to do so. It would require time for preparation, just where would he go?

He would find his way back to her if it was the last thing he did. He stood up and placed the item Kid had given him away, Serge dusted himself off and headed back to Arni Village with his Sea Swallow in his hands.

**

* * *

To Be Continued**

Not much of a change here, just a few things (mostly just editing my spelling and grammar). What do you think? Good? Bad? Should I continue, or should I just call it quits and not bother anymore? Review and let me know, or **PM **me, I won't mind the pestering.


	2. Chapter 2 Alive

**AN:** Again if you've read this story before I should let you know that I made a few changes (mostly just editing and grammar, the usage of past and present tense words has been fixed sort of oh and uh now this chapter is a little bit longer but not that much). If not, enjoy oh and um leave a **review **(c'mon I'm asking nicely).

**Disclaimer:** Like it says in the first chapter, I don't Own Chrono Cross, only OCs.

**Code thingy:**  
"Speaking"_  
'Thinking'**  
Words that express some meaning**_**  
ELEMENT/Tech**_  
--Flashback--_

**Note**: this chapter is in POV

**

* * *

Chapter 2: Alive**

_**1 year later...**_

I am on board the S.S. Zelbess pondering on the name of the ship, it was one of a few things that had gotten my interest in the last hour or so, something to distract myself from the boredom I was feeling right now. From what I learned these last couple of hours, there was this story about the ship getting its name from a beautiful Demi-human maiden that the Captain had once loved many years ago. I never really did hear the rest of the story, (the Demi-human who was telling me this left in a hurry before she could finish) but from the sound of it, I think things ended terribly between them.

It enthused my curiosity (as many things new to me usually did) to find out how the story ended, so much, that I would have come so close to asking the Sage himself when I got back (he and the Captain are good friends or so I've heard) if I had the chance; but another Demi-human suggested that maybe I should just stay out of it.

After all, it wouldn't be a good idea to get on Sir Fargo's bad side.

In the last two days that I've spent on this ship, I have gotten to know many people, tourists, crew members, and even performers who worked on Sir Fargo's ship, and learn new things about the world, things I hadn't know before. I feel overwhelmed all of a sudden by all of these things that I find it necessary to take a break and stand near the ledge of the ship. I look up to the clear blue sky as I clear my mind and make sense of things.

Something about doing this just brings things into perspective. And really, it drives my worries away feeling the breeze sweep across my face, I find it relaxing every time I do this. That was until my hair also ends up flying across my face and poking me right in the eye. I was ready this time as my locks were kept in place by a red bandana, and conveniently by a straw hat a friend of mines had given me shortly before boarding this ship. With no more distractions I was able to focus on the problem at hand.

We were still far away, but I could see a small patch of green in the distance. I knew I was almost there, so close to the town of Termina. I know that it is a large town located on the mainland of El Nido, it is there where I will start my journey and hopefully lead me to find the answers I was looking for.

Answers to the questions that had plagued my mind for so long. Something I've always wondered since I first became aware of what happened to me…

Just who am I?

From what I had been told, I had been found near the shorelines of an island. Though at first they seemed convinced that I was just a dead body taken up ashore due to shifting currents. I guess I proved them wrong when they realized that I was still alive. According to them they weren't sure if I was on board a ship, and that there could have been an accident. Fortunately I managed to end up in an island that was inhabited by people, it was a miracle that I was still alive, even if barely clinging to life.

I go over the stories I was told over again. I had been found unconscious (and according to them, it would have been days before I even regained consciousness) nearly bleeding to death, but they did their best taking a complete stranger as myself to the witch doctor of Marbule for treatment. From what I know, Marbule is an isle that is home to Demi-humans and to a few humans as well. It was there where I was nursed back to health. But not before waking to realize that something was not right.

_

* * *

  
__-- I stir from what seems to be an endless dream, and my eyes open slowly for the first time in how long? Long? I don't know what's going on. __I try to open my eyes they feel as if my eyelids have been glued together or something__. __I struggle endlessly to open them but when I finally do, all I can see is a blur of gray._

_Why is everything like this? I blink a few times to rid myself of whatever is clouding my eyes. From what I could tell, there is barely any light save for that which is coming from a small window a few feet away from where I am. My neck is sore and I can't move it. Even more, I realize that I'm lying __oddly, maybe __on my stomach but more on my side, I don't understand why until I try to shift and turn myself. _

_The sudden intrusion of pain hits me like I've never been hit before, and it in turn causes me to twist and turn in agony fueling the pain even more as I cry out. It won't stop, I can't stop as tears run down my face in anguish. Then I feel it, someone is there, no wait I think there were two of them. I __didn't__ know. I don't know. I don't know what is going on? Who are these people, what do they want with me? _

"_Just calm down lad, no one is going to hurt you,__"__ one of the individuals says as he and another other person (all I see is a blur of gray, violet and black) try to hold me down regardless of my screams. I stare at a pair of concerned brown eyes. __It's all I see before the darkness overtakes me__.--_

_**Three Days Later…**_

_-- I __wake__ up blinking a few times while my eyes adjusted to the light that kept shining upon my face. I groaned slightly and tried to turn my neck, something I later regretted when I winced and felt a sharp pain on the side of my neck. I remembered something about a soreness, but that was all. I really wanted to clamp my hand over it in an attempt to relieve the ache, but it was like I had no control over the rest of my body. _

_Everything hurt, I was more aware of this than the last time. __Wait last time? Was there a last time, or was that just a dream?__ I couldn't understand why __all of a sudden__ there were tears slowly running down my cheeks and onto the pillow my head was resting on. My head was hurting and I felt so dizzy and lost, I blinked a few times trying to rid myself of those tears when I heard footsteps approaching me. I looked up and found myself staring into those brown orbs, I could have sworn that they were familiar as someone spoke. _

_"You're awake again, well that's good news, we almost lost you there."_

_"L-lost.. m-me?" was the first thing I tried to say but my throat was really sore, that I ended up coughing, the spasms causing my chest to hurt among other things._

_As if expecting that to happen, he approached even closer. __"__Easy now, it would be best if you didn't speak so soon,__"__ he was holding up a small bottle which he then proceeded to pouring its contents down my throat. I didn't resist, though then again I couldn't. Surprisingly enough though, was that I didn't choke on it and it kind of lessened the pain in my throat._

_"But yes, you were close to dying, lad. In tremendous pain, enough to practically send you into shock and render you unconscious for days, I believe that was three days ago," he continued as he placed the empty bottle somewhere, I couldn't tell where. "Never before have I seen someone in such a state as yourself, you are quite lucky that you managed to regain consciousness." _

_Despite his warning I managed to force out a weak "Where am I"_

_"You__'__re safe here, but it's best that you not speak too much or there won't be much that I can do to help you out lad. Get some rest I'll come check up on you in a little while,__"__ he says as he __walks__ out of the room.--_

The man would come back a few times afterwards to check up on me telling me that it would take weeks to fully recover, but that I was showing an improvement despite how slow it was. Those next few days were much more enjoyable than when I first came to. He turned out to be the Island's witch doctor and explained that I was in Marbule. To tell you the truth I didn't know where that was for sure. But that wasn't all.

* * *

_**Two Days Later…**_

_-- "So... w-who are you?" I ask. My throat was feeling a lot better because they gave me something to soothe the pain again._

_"I am the Witch Doctor of Marbule, you may call me Esmeld_**(1)**_ if you like," __The which doctor or should I say __Esmeld __says__ as he gave a slight bow._

_"Marbule?__"__ I __manage to say__. I shift slightly and move my hand towards my neck to feel the bandages that were wrapped around it. I winced slightly when I touched the tender wound that was not fully healed yet. _

"_Yes,__"__ the witch doctor replies, though apparently he __doesn't__ notice my action. __"__Haven__'__t you ever heard of this place before?__"__ He ask__s__. _

_I try to shake my head slightly while trying to look around to get a better look at my surroundings. __"__No, I don__'__t think so,__"__ I say as I tried to recall the name, but to no avail. My memory seemed foggy to recall anything at the moment._

"_Hmm...You __might__ be from the Zenan mainland maybe, but you seem familiar. Well never mind about that, do you know what happened to you?__"_

"_No, I-I can__'__t remember..." I pause when nothing else came to mind and it dawned on me, "I really can__'__t recall anything,__"__ I turn slightly enough to look at him._

"_Why can't I remember? What__'__s wrong with me?__"__--_

I couldn't remember anything about myself. To be honest the first thing I could ever recall was me lying on that bed, and after that, the next few days of being confined to it, helpless and lost. I couldn't recall where I lived, who I was, heck my favorite food. Esmeld was convinced that it may just be temporary, that I was experiencing a memory lapse (or something, I can't recall exactly what he called it) and that I just needed to try harder to remember. But no matter how much I tried, how much I kept thinking about it, it proved useless and so I tried my best to concentrate on what was ahead of me, maybe then would I remember something.

Later on I would meet the Sage of Marbule, a powerful leader among their people. He had heard of my problem and came to see me, but did almost a week after my arrival there, or maybe he had seen me before but I was asleep or something. I didn't know. He had taken an interest in me for sometime, I guess anyone would have taken an interest in a complete stranger who mysteriously shows up on their island beaten and battered. He asked me questions and I was stumped. I wish I could have answered, but I couldn't.

* * *

_**Much Later that Day…**_

_-- I was lying on the bed that they had there. It was uncomfortable to sleep on my stomach all the time (it was the only part of my body that wasn't so horribly bruised and __cut__) but I guess it was either that or the alternative of sleeping on my back which was much too painful and worse to try. Usually the pain subside__d long enough__ when I lie on my side, but that only made my neck even more sore and I would have to resort to switching back and forth, and trust me it hurts. _

"_Do you know what happened to you before you came here?__"__ The __S__age of Marbule asks as he sits across from me. _

_I shake my head carefully as I stare at the being in front of me, he kind of looked like Esmeld but different skin color __kinda wrinkly, he was older or something__. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen people like the witch doctor, the Sage or the other person who enters the room every once and a while. They were so different than __I__, though then again I haven't had a chance to take a better look at myself; what if I look the same way too?_

_Wait he was asking me? Something about something, what was it again? Oh right…_

_"__Nothing__, __Sir, I can't remember anything__." I say after __recalling what he was asking me__. He gives me a puzzled look __and starts__talking__ to Esmeld. They speak to each other while I look back and forth between them confused. _

"_Hmm? Are you sure?__"__ The Sage asks the witch doctor. _

_  
__"__I__'__m certain this boy has amnesia… It would be pointless to even ask him if he remembers his family.__"__ They speak in a low voice but I could still hear them. _

_  
Amnesia? __What is that?__--_

It didn't take me long to figure out what amnesia was. At the time, it had never really occurred to me to think about the possibility that I might have had a family out there looking for me right now until Esmeld brought it up. Who are they? What are they like? Were they worried for me? Do they even know I'm missing? Do they wonder what became of me?

_--The Sage walks back and forth looking at me once or twice. "Can we assume that he does not remember his name either?__"__ he ask__s__ the witch doctor who remain__s__ seated nearby. I __think__ about it._

_My name, what was it? __I try hoping that I could recall something, anything. Even the slightest memory would be great, __but __I__keep__ drawing a complete blank._

_Why can't I remember, __I__ try __harder this time__ to remember __to the point that I start feeling a little lightheaded for a moment__, __and I think I know what the problem is. There's no memory to latch onto, almost as if there never was. It frightens me.__  
_

_"No, Sir I don't remember," I __finally __respond after that much deliberation, __my hands won't stop shaking__. He __has this look__ for a moment before he __glances__ at me again._

_"__Then you __wouldn't__ mind if I might suggest a name for you. At least for the time being until you are able to remember.__"_

_I look at him, __"__I guess.__"__--_

The Sage had looked at me with what I guessed at the time may have been curiosity. I had the strangest feeling that he knew something I didn't, that he was withholding something important. Maybe it had just been my imagination, I was still a bit dazed from the ordeal. I couldn't ask him then, because I felt that I owed it to him and his people. Besides, he was the one who gave me a name and a sure it was a peculiar one indeed.

_--__"__Once I knew of someone who was like you, well not like you. In a way he was lost, traveling in search of answers. He came to me requesting for my assistance and that's what I did. He did a great deed for us and he is the reason why Marbule is the way it is now. Never saw him again though." _

"_Why?__"__ I asked. _

"_He disappeared.__"__--_

I didn't quite understand what he had said that day, and didn't seem to understand the importance. But it came to me that he didn't really care whether I did or didn't.

_--"What was his name?" I ask hesitantly. _

_**"**__Lynx…" he replied. --_

* * *

I didn't know why he chose to give me that name. He must have known something I was sure of it, but I kept my suspicions to myself and made no complaint toward it. I was a guest in their home and knew to respect them especially for saving my life.

Most of the Demi-humans and even Esmeld refused to call me Lynx. To them it was really weird for a human like myself to have such a Demi-human name as they claimed mines was, which kind of confused me. A friend of mines later suggested dropping the "X" in the name so that all that remained was Lyn and replacing it an extra "N" at the end. Of course I later learned that Lynn was a girl's name (he knew this all along and had suggested it to begin with, simply as a joke).

In any case, the nickname sort of stuck (along with a few teasing remarks from my friend); though everyone later on called me by a variation of the name. You would probably notice if you listened closely that it had more of an "eh" sound to it.

To tell the truth, I liked it; but kept the original as well. From then on I decided to go by both names as Len Lynx as odd as it sounded.

After a few more encounters with the Sage of Marbule, he told me about someone else he knew from a place called Arni. According to him, Arni was a small fisherman village in El Nido, where other humans like myself lived in (by then I had learn the distinction between human and Demi-human after looking in a mirror and realizing that I looked nothing like the Sage or Esmeld which was kinda frightening and embarrassing at the same time). He said I would probably get the answers I was looking for if I found this friend of his, but he had also cautioned me to be careful about meeting him.

_**

* * *

  
One Week Later…**_

_--It would still be a while before I could fully recover, but after all my sessions with the witch doctor I was now able to sit up and even stand up foe short periods of time. Though Esmeld continues to insist that I take things easy and not move too much so that I didn't end up hurting myself again. _

_"…There is one person who might be able to help you,__"__ He __says,__I could tell by the sound of his voice that he is __hesitant as he head__s__ toward the exit. _

_"Who?" I ask, __I'm __sitting down as he __speaks__ and I __try__ to stand up on my own, big mistake. My legs still wobble from lack of using them for so long and seconds later __I fall__ over onto my knees. The Sage sigh__s__, he turns around and helps me back up to the bed; I thank him shortly afterwards and listen as he continue__s__, "There is a human from a village in the continent of El Nido." _

_"Really?__"__ I rub my shoulder for a second, letting the thought sink in for a second before wondering what El Nido was. He said continent, __so __was it close to Marbule or really far? My thoughts went back to the villager, he was someone who could help me. __What kind of help?_

"_Do you know him; how can I find him?" _

_The sage look__s__ at me surprised at my sudden eagerness, "Hmm, already you wish to find him? Have you considered the shape you__'__re in?" _

_I look at my bandaged up arms and torso before I nod, "Yes sir, when I get better I plan on looking for him. If he is able to help me regain my memories then I must." _

_"Are you sure you want to go through with it? There are many things here…__"_

"_But I need to know the truth about myself,__"__ I say catching __and I see that the__ Sage __is__ surprise__d again by my outburst__. __"__Whoever this man is, he might be able to clear up the questions to my past. I have to go, I have to do this.__"_

"_Very well, if you must... I do recall his name being Serge, he lives in Arni. The village is located in the southern region of the main continent of El Nido.__"_

_"Anything else. How does he look like?" I ask. _

_"That is something I cannot say. In due time you will find out for yourself."_

_"How?"_

_"You'll know when you see him..."--_

I knew right then that he had left something out, but that didn't matter to me; I was too determined to get better and find this Serge person who would answer the clues to my past. But I knew that it wasn't going to be easy though.

According to the Sage, the humans from the village disliked Demi-humans. Despite my asking why, he never did tell me. No Demi-human would dare venture to that place; most were strictly against leaving Marbule anyway content with remaining in the island to the rest of their days. I needed a way to get to that village as soon as possible. Without a boat and someone to navigate through the seas, I would never be able to get to that village.

Needless to say I've spent roughly about a month recovering and waiting for the perfect opportunity. A month wasted waiting (well actually I spent the time learning things I didn't know, or helping around as best as I could with repairs and stuff which I also learned to do). But now it would all pay off soon. Then maybe my life could return to normal.

Whatever normal was for me.

At the time that this was going on, a cruise ship belonging to a man named Fargo had docked near the Island. Apparently this man was an old friend of the Sage's. It was then when I got an idea. From what I heard, Fargo's ship was headed to Termina, it was a city north of Arni. If I could somehow convince Fargo to take me on board his ship, then I could finally make my way through the mainland and find Serge.

I had some preparing to do.  
_  


* * *

_

_**Two days ago… **_

_--I was helping out one of the __Demi__-humans put up a sign near one of the __new __houses __we had finished constructing.__ I __see__ Fargo pass my way, __it's the second time I've seen him this morning__. __He is tall and muscular, his skin is tanned (much more than mines) and his hair is black albeit graying a bit, oh and he has a mustache.__His clothes are not the same as those worn by the Demi-humans, black and leather like. __I straighten my clothes and excuse myself for a moment before I go and follow the man. I stay behind him for a while until he realizes that I am following him, he turns around and confronts me. _

_Fargo looks down at me, the man was about half a foot taller than I, __"__Is there something you want? …Uh…__"__ The sound of his voice just made me even more nervous that I had to look down to avoid eye contact. _

"_Something wrong lad?__"__ he ask__s__, __I see __a lit cigar __in his hand for a moment before I think he starts smoking again and blows__ some smoke to the left. _

"_Uh, Sir Fargo?__"__ I say slowly as I look up to him._

"_Yes?__"_

"_I heard that you are heading out to Termina, is that right?__"_

"_That's right. Why do you ask?__"__ He __says__._

"_Well, I err…I was wondering if it __wouldn't__ be a bother for you, if I could come along with you. __I've __been in Marbule for quite a while now, but I need to go to a village called Arni, which I think is nearby. It is very important, and I need your help Sir.__"_

_I __tell__ him as best as I could and try to look at him, though the fear of him turning down my proposal just __makes__ me look down again. I could never quite shake this feeling away when I spoke to people. I guess __Vincent's right in saying that__ my social skills __are__ terrible, I should __probably __work on them when I get the chance._

"_What__'__s your name kid?__"__Sir Fargo__ ask__s__ dropping the used up cigar and crushing it with __the heel of __his boot._

"_Well, most__ people just call me Len,__"__ I respond. _

"_Len eh? That__'__s a peculiar name you got there.__"__ He replies somewhat amused._

_"You're not the first to say so Sir. I'm also called Lynx, though neither one is my real name..."_

_"Oh, it's not? So then you're that kid the Sage was talking about, __aren't __you?" _

_"I guess so, Sir." _

_He laughed. "There's no need to be ashamed of anything, lad." _

_"Huh?" I looked up and met eye-to-eye. He makes a face and just stares at me observing my every feature, which leaves me confused. _

_"Hmm, you know, you kind of look familiar...nah must be my imagination or something,__"__ he pauses and looks at me again. "But nonetheless kid, the Sage told me about you and as much as I would like to help you I can__'__t. I have important business to take care of.__"_

"_Oh,__"__ I say. __"__Okay then, thanks anyway,__"__ I say trying to hide the feeling of having my hopes crushed as Sir Fargo walks away. A man and a woman walk past Fargo to tell him something. He replies in a short answer I don't know what, before walking away. The couple then walk over to where I am. One of them, the man looked at Fargo's direction before walking __in my direction__._

_"What's wrong?" I had been sitting down by the steps when I looked up at the man dressed in strange red and black clothing who had spoken. He had this vivacious combination of shorts and pants along with boots that didn't quite match for one was red, while the other was black. He has shoulder length red hair, though the roots looked black; I couldn't help but stare gapingly for a second or two. _

_And they all said that I looked creepy, but __I'm sure__ this guy __is__ wearing lipstick! _

_The woman on the other hand, she was very beautiful with her pretty blue eyes and long golden brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail. She was wearing an outfit as well, that is if you call what she was wearing an outfit. It consists of a pair of pink gloves that reached up to her elbows, a pink top, and matching skirt, though it is kind of see-through. Quickly, I avert my gaze and stare down at her pink stockings and sandals. _

_I vaguely recall hearing about those two; she was Nikki, no wait Miki, while Nikki was the guy left of her. I __remember on of the Demi-humans__gossiping about them being __members of some performance group or something like that. What was it called again? _

"_Huh? Oh err... I was just asking Sir Fargo if he could help me get to a place called Arni. He told me he couldn't help me," I respond._

_"That's too bad," Miki says sympathetically or at least it sounds that way. _

"_It__'__s okay, I can always find another way to get there later,__"__ I reply._

_"So what's the purpose to going there?" Nikki ask__s__. _

_I stand up and dust myself off for a second, "I'm looking for someone...His name is __Serge__, and it's necessary that I find him as soon as possible. But he lives real far away and there's no way for me to get to him."_

"_I'm sure there's a way to get there,__"__ Nikki says, __"__I mean maybe we can help,__"__ he adds afterwards. _

"_No really you don__'__t have to go through all that trouble uh…__"_

"_We__'__re heading to Termina, that__'__s just North of where Arni is. I__'__m sure we can give you a lift.__"_

"_I see, but what about Sir Fargo?__"__ I say recalling that he said he couldn't help._

"_I__'__m sure we can convince Fargo to let you. If not, then I got another idea." he says with a smirk on his face.-- _

Nikki left along with Miki and I returned back to work. Later that day Fargo would return to confront me. He had told me that I could come along with him, but that I would have to do something in return.

Unfortunately he didn't tell me what that was, and I have yet to find out.

Nikki had come through for me, and I didn't know how to react. Though he told that there were some things I needed to get done. I needed a new outfit for starters, the clothes I had were a bit torn (seeing as I was still wearing the same ones that I had on me when I got here, though now with a few modifications and stitches), so Miki was kind enough to get me some clothes that would fit me. They were a little stuffy but I was happy that I had clothes that would at least hide my scars. Maybe now people won't stare at me so awkwardly.

I made my goodbyes to all of the people there (with the exception of my friend who had left Marbule some time ago), though I assured them that I would return in due time. To me this place was like home and that was something I could never forget in my heart even if I did have some other place.

* * *

_--__"__So, I hear that you were leaving?__"__ The Sage says as he comes into my room. I had just finished getting dressed in the new clothes Miki had brought me this morning. I was standing in front of a mirror adjusting __the new bandana I got__._

"_Yes sir, we leave in half an hour,__"__ I turn around and respond, __"I'm__ just hoping to say goodbye.__"_

_He remain__s__ silent for a few seconds before he walk__s__ closer to me, he __is__ holding something in his hands. It__'s __some sort of long object that was wrapped heavily with some white silk-like material. _

"_This might help you throughout your journey.__"__ He says as he hands the object over to me, surprised I nearly drop it because it is kinda heavy, __and yet the Sage held it like it was nothing__._

"_What is this?__"__ I ask, I look down at it before looking at him in the eye, he gives me what I can only __deduce__ as an open-it-and-find-out look. I unwrap the silk material carefully so that I don't drop what I'm holding, I could see something metallic and a handle. _

"_It__'__s called Slasher.__"__ he says as I stare at a long grayish silver sword._

"_Slasher?__"__ I say holding the blade by the handle, though its weight was making it slip my hands._

_The Sage nods. __"__Yes, I was given this blade not long ago. It is said to be from the Bend of Time. Its owner apparently discarded it, and a traveler happened to discovered it by chance. He and his companions had no use for it and __gave__ it to me, but I__'__m too old now and I as well have no use for it. So I'm giving it to you.__"_

"_But I can__'__t just take this from you.__"__ I respond as I try to hand it back ho him but the Sage refuse__s__ to take it. _

"_No buts, I feel that you are more suited for this than I am. Trust me I know. I always know.__"__ I nod hesitantly taking his word for it. The Sage gives me something else so that I can put the sword away rather than carry it in my hands all day long. _

"_Besides, it will come in handy in your journey. For it will not come easy for you I assure you Lynx. You will face many hardships and dangers. But I advise that you be on your guard, many people you meet might react a certain way."_

"_Might this have something to do with Serge?__"__ I couldn't help but ask, he gives me no reply._

"_I see... Is there anything else?__"_

_The Sage shakes his head. _

_I bow, __"__Then farewell Sir, until we meet again in the near future.__"__ I say as I leave. --_

And pretty much that's how I ended up where I am now.

I keep the Slasher close to me though to be honest I have no reason to ever use it. Heck, I lack actual understanding to even wield one properly (seeing as swinging a stick around isn't exactly training); however, from what the Sage had told me I knew that trouble was most likely to head my way. I tried to keep myself on alert for anything that may seem unusual or if anyone recognized me walking around.

"So have you been waiting here long?" I turn around and see Sir Fargo standing a few feet away from me. He shows no expression whatsoever, but apparently from what I've heard from others aboard, that's just the way he is.

"Not really, just a while." I shrug as I turn my attention back to the ocean and sigh.

"Something wrong lad?" He joins in on staring at the ocean, I turn to see him and notice that his expression has softened slightly.

"I've been thinking about it and I'm not sure that what I'm doing. Is it the right thing?" I say.

"Having second thoughts?" Sir Fargo keeps looking in the same direction of land, "I guess it can't be helped. Then again I can't be sure, I've never been in such a situation as yours kid," he says as he runs a calloused hand through his graying black hair.

"What if I don't find what I'm looking for, what if Serge's not there? What next? What do I do?" He looks at me confused.

"Don't you know? You didn't think things through all the way did you?" He returns his gaze this time to the skies before laughing lightly at the situation.

"No I guess I didn't. I mean I could end up lost in Arni or Termina or somewhere else for the matter. I might not be able to come back to Marbule for a long time," I say feeling somewhat frustrated.

"Guess that might be true, but anyways lad, if you don't find what you're looking."

"Hmm?"

"If you don't find what you're looking for, then you're more than welcomed to stay with us. Not that it really matters, I'm sure things will work out somehow," he says giving me a pat on the shoulder.

"You seem so sure," I respond.

"Course I am! Why wouldn't I?"

I couldn't help but laugh from his enthusiasm and support, feeling slightly better now. I could see the town now as the S.S. Zelbess was approaching the docks in the ports of Termina. After a few minutes the ship eventually came to a halt.

Sir Fargo led the way down the stairs before he stopped and turns around. "So you ready?" he asks me as he takes out a cigar, lights it up with some matches and begin smoking.

I follow behind him, "Yeah, lets go."

* * *

**To Be Continued**

**(1) **In the game they never say what the witch doctor's name is. Then again they don't even say what the Sage's real name is either but that's not the point. I figured I'd give him a name just for the fun of it. The name itself really came from a goblin that appears in one of the scenarios within the game _**Radical Dreamers**_**.** I thought it was good name and had to use it for this story.

Agh I'm so twitchy right now I don't know why **-paranoid- **maybe if I get a **review **my twitchiness might go away, or just make me more paranoid, who knows.


	3. Chapter 3 Trip to Viper Manor

**AN:**I would have put something interesting in here, but I think I covered that already on the previous chapters so uh never mind. Don't forget to leave a **review **or the bunny gets it

**Disclaimer:** Meh don't-eth own-eth Chrono Cross so don't-eth sue-eth.

-takes out imaginary bunny and holds up imaginary shotgun up to it-

**Code Thingy:  
**"Speaking"  
_'Thinking'  
__**Words that express some meaning  
**_**ELEMENT/Tech  
**_--Flashback--_

**

* * *

Chapter 3: Trip to Viper Manor  
**The S.S Zelbess had docked on the ports of Termina. Surprisingly enough, Len noticed that Nikki and Miki were waiting for them in the front. Fargo nodded as he, Len, and the two members of the Magical Dreamers walked through the flight of stairs and climbed down the ladders towards the base of the ship. After they reached the bottom they noticed that there was a gap between the ship and port, it had a great deal of distance that it was nearly impossible to get across by just walking over.

"So what now Sir?" Len asks as he studies the distance, it was clear that anyone who would want to get across would have to be a good jumper or something like that. He glances towards Fargo who simply has his cigar at hand and puffs some smoke into the air. Len coughs slightly and tries to fan the air a bit as Fargo speaks.

"We jump." he responds before he practically jumps over and lands on the other side. Len watches astounded as Nikki follows Fargo and also jumping effortlessly to the other side. Nikki then extended his arm out as he waits for Miki to follow suit. She had a bit of difficulty, but Nikki was there for her in the end. All eyes were now on Len as he sighs in frustration.

"C'mon," Miki says, but the teen merely shakes his head, "You don't honestly believe I can make a jump like that, do you?" he replies while pointing to the water.

"It's not hard," Nikki says as he takes a few steps back to give him enough space.

"Easy for you to say," Len mutters as he presses his hat down and sighs once more.

"Hurry up kid or we're leaving without you," this time Fargo speaks as he tosses his cigar into the water.

"Alright, I'm coming but don't say I didn't warn you," Len responds as he steps back hoping to get enough running space.

'_Here goes nothing,__'_ he thinks as he runs and jumps at the last minute; Len would have made the jump but only reached the edge. He tried to stay balanced and propel himself forward, but the weight of the Slasher that was strapped to his back was pulling him down, that he would surely fall into the watery depths behind him.

"I got ya," Fargo makes a grab at the collar of one of Len's shirts and pulls him frontward. Len stumbles forward where Nikki was standing; the teen turns around and stammers as he thanks Fargo while he rubs the back of his neck slightly. Fargo nods and walked towards one of the men that surveyed the area. Len took the chance to look around.

"So this is Termina?" he asked as he studied the place and people he saw as he turned to Miki who nodded.

"It's not what I expected it to be," he added. Len would have thought that Termina would have been a bit livelier and similar to Marbule that was not the case. There were no Demi-humans around, only men who were dressed in strange blue uniforms and holding strange weapons he had never seen before. He felt the urge to walk up to one of those men and find out what it was but relented and stayed with the group glancing around. The teen looked around, anticipating to find something familiar, anything that could jolt his memory, but he recognized nothing of the sort.

"Yeah well, things have changed a lot since Porre took over the mainland," says Nikki.

"Porre?" Len asks but his question goes unanswered as both Nikki and Miki ditch him to go join up with Fargo who was now arguing with one of the soldiers.

"What do you mean I can't dock my ship here?" He yelled causing the soldier to flinch.

"I'm sorry Sir, but the Commander is away on important business. Our orders were to not let any ships dock the ports until he returns," the soldier replies as he regains composure.

"And when is that?" Nikki asks.

"…Three days…"

"Three days!" Fargo said in an a near outrage; he took out a folded piece of paper and hands it to the soldier, "your Commander gave us permission to dock our ship on this day. We have planned a long way for this and we can't wait until he returns."

Len joined up with the group and watches what was going on as Fargo takes out a small bag and tosses it to the man. On contact the bag gave out a jingling sound as if it were loaded with coins or something of the sort.

"You're a smart fellow right? I'm sure you can convince your superiors that we're here to restock on supplies?" Said Fargo.

"I…but…"

"We'll be gone by the evening," said Nikki.

"Err…"

"Please Sir. It's very important," Miki said sweetly as she charms the man into agreeing with her looks.

"Agh... alright then, but just this once. Evening got it Sir?" The soldier replies staring at Miki a little longer than he should have.

"Good, c'mon," Fargo says as he takes the lead once more with Len and Miki behind him and Nikki at the end. Miki walked up to Fargo and whispered something into his ear, he nods in agreement and Miki takes Nikki's hand dragging him away into one of the shops nearby without warning. Fargo laughed as he leads Len to a Bar that was nearby.

"You hungry?" he asked. On cue Len's stomach began to rumble (he hadn't eaten much on board the ship fearing the food wouldn't agree with him during the voyage), he gave a slight grin before nodding. They entered the bar; Len became aware of the overwhelming aroma that filled the room, and he couldn't help but like it. The scenery was much different than that of outside. There were people among the soldiers. They drank, talk, and boasted amongst themselves as Len and Fargo walked in.

Len sat down and waited while Fargo went to order something up. The teen glanced around and saw the group of soldiers who were pointing and laughing at him while they spoke. Len didn't understand why, but made no comment about it as Fargo returned and sat down across from him.

"There's a lot of people here," Len states as he taps on the wooden table with his fingers. They looked different compared to the people of Marbule, and just like outside, there were no Demi-humans here either. Len was inquisitive to know why.

Fargo shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "Porre folks from the looks of it." Again Len noticed that Porre was mentioned again. Was that a place?

"Sir, where is it exactly that we're going?"

"Hmm? Oh, an orphanage where Viper Manor used to be," Fargo replied.

"Viper Manor?" Len repeated the name a couple of times as if remembering but to no avail, "what is that?" he asked.

Fargo remembered what the Sage had told him about the boy and tried to explain as best as he could. "It used to be the main house here in the mainland, before it was destroyed. It's where General Viper used to live." He says snorting at the sound of that name.

"See, General Viper was as they said a benevolent and fair ruler in El Nido, but that was ages ago. That was before he along with the Devas and Acacia Dragoons disappeared." There was something about the tone of his voice that made Len wonder if Fargo disliked General Viper and the Dragoons.

"Devas? Dragoons? I know Nikki said something about Porre taking over El Nido, but he didn't mention anything about the Dragoons," Len shakes his head in confusion.

"The Dragoons served General Viper, just like those goons you see there serve the higher-ups from Porre. With the Dragoons gone, those blokes from Porre saw the opportunity to take the mainland in less than a few weeks."

"How did this happen?" Len asked. A waitress came up to them and served their food, Fargo did not order anything for himself. The teen stared at the steamed peas, baked potato, and what resembled bits and slices of meat. Yet he touched none of it, he was too enthralled in Fargo's story and wanted to hear what he had to say.

"It was about four years ago I'd say. One day things are peaceful here in El Nido, the next thing we know is that Old Viper leads his entire fleet of knights to the Dead Sea and disappear."

"Disappear? The Dead Sea I've heard of that, it's north of Marbule right?" Fargo nods. "But I always heard that no one has ever set foot within it," the teen said as he finally took a bite of the potato, Fargo nodded in agreement.

"That's right, the entire place is surrounded by poisonous coral and the tides are more difficult to navigate."

"But then how did they get in?" Len asked as he sips on his drink. Fargo went on to explain how months before the accident a Demi-human from Porre had approached General viper with what appeared to be an opportunity of a lifetime.

"I believe his name was Lynx," says Fargo, he looked at the quizzical expression that suddenly formed on Len's face.

"Lynx?" Len asks Fargo, "has the Sage ever met Lynx?"

"No, Why?" he responds. Len thought about what Fargo said. How could it be that the Sage met a person by that name and Fargo not know about it? They seemed to be good friends. But what seemed to bother Len was that the Sage spoke about a Lynx who saved their village, yet now he was hearing of another Lynx from Porre who might have been responsible for the disappearance of General Viper and the Dragoons. Where they two completely different people or one in the same?

"So then, what could Lynx even have to offer or what could General Viper provide for him that they would risk their lives to go to the Dead Sea knowing of the dangers in going there?" Len asked.

"Rumor has it that Lynx knew of the location of the Frozen Flame," the teen unexpectedly choked and coughed a bit when he was caught off guard, by Fargo's reply.

"The ancient artifact that was said to grant the wish of whoever possessed it?" The teen asks after he calmed down.

"So you've heard of it?" Fargo says quirking an eyebrow.

"The people of Marbule, I've heard them tell stories about El Nido. But I thought the Frozen Flame was merely a legend, it can't possibly exist can it?" Len says shaking his head, he remembers the tales he heard from the Demi-humans when he lived in Marbule, but that's just what they were, stories nothing to be taken seriously, right?

Fargo shrugs almost as if to agree with him, "Yeah I heard those stories as well. To tell the truth I always thought that they were nothing more than some silly fairy tales, but I guess that Viper didn't think so."

"So General Viper was convinced that Lynx was telling the truth about the location of the Flame, and led his entire army there never to return again, but what about Lynx? You said so yourself that Lynx came from Porre, and not long after the Dragoons' disappearance they came and took over. Could it be possible that it was all a trap?"

"Could be. Though it'd be a good idea not to speak about it," Fargo was all he said and nothing more. Len realizes why when he sees the same group of Porre soldiers pass by them.

Len ate his peas and finished his drink, though he didn't eat the meat. He never did find meat to be very appetizing, well sure sometimes it tasted good, but it could never agree with his stomach as he'd end up getting sick a few minutes later and end up throwing up afterwards. Back when he first ended up in Marbule, just about anything he ate made him sick, but after a while it didn't anymore, just meat. Esmeld had thought that the reason might have been because he was allergic, it must have been a strange allergy then Len had thought at the time.

Fargo made no comment whatsoever as the waitress came up to them and picked up the dishes. Instead he went up to pay the bill while Len waited. Afterwards Len and Fargo left the Bar only to find Nikki and Miki waiting for them.

"Hey," Len greeted his friends as he joined up with them. Nikki tossed something to the teen who caught said thing and looked to them confused.

"What's this for?" he asks as he looks to Miki then back down to the knapsack that Nikki had given him.

"In case of emergencies, think of the bag as a bonus though," says Nikki as Len looked inside and pulled out a strange capsule. He studies the object intently, it was clear and it had a thin white strip around the center that acted as a label with the word **BRACE** written neatly in small bold letters. Inside the capsule was a strange yellow orb that contributed to the capsules' yellow color as it gave of a slight glow.

Len knew they were called elements, he had seen them before back when he was in Marbule. The merchant there would usually sell them to the inhabitants of the island or other travelers that passed by the Demi-human colony. He also remembered his friend telling him that elements were said to be a representation of sort that came from the Dragon Gods. There were six different colors for six different dragons. Though like the Frozen Flame, the Dragon Gods were also rumored to be nothing more than a legend, since no one had ever seen them, there was no proof whatsoever other than the elements that could prove that these gods even existed. Len, curious to know more, asked Nikki and Miki if either one of them knew anything else but came up empty.

"Well not much more than the basics, but the people of Guldove know tons about the Dragon Gods though," Nikki mentions as they walked along.

"Oh," Len says as he took off his hat and carefully placed it inside the bag alongside the elements; he made a mental note to ask one of them where Guldove was later while he followed Nikki, Miki and Fargo as they left Termina.

* * *

They walked South of Termina and went through the Forest which was apparently east to Viper Manor. Len was amazed by as he looked around to the new scenery of green; he had never seen such trees and wildlife like those he saw in the Shadow Forest. He noticed the new creatures lurking about, he wanted to run up to them to get a better view but Nikki warned him that it might not be a good idea.

Some of those creatures didn't seem bothered by the appearance of the newcomers, but there were those who wanted to cause trouble. It was nothing to Fargo as he dealt with the monsters using the bronze sword he had brought along with him. Len was astonished to see how well Fargo could fight that he wondered just where and when did Sir Fargo learn to fight like that. The captain of the S.S. Zelbess scared off the last of the forest dwellers before putting his sword away and gesturing for them to continue.

It seemed like hours (as Len seemed to put it) as they walked along the forest path before they reached the front gate of the building Len assumed was Viper Manor. He looked up and saw a large wooden sign that was stationed above:

**Tears Of The Sun  
****Orphanage and Institute for learning**

A banner hung just below it. "One year anniversary? Presenting the Magical Dreamers?" Len scratches his head in confusion. "I thought you said this was Viper Manor?" he asks.

Fargo nodded, "It was, but that was more than four years ago before it was destroyed. The place was built up from scratch about a year ago." he said as the gates opened and he walked in. Len remained dumbfounded as he followed after him with Nikki and Miki at his side. They only made it halfway when one of Miki's friends and backup dancer named Yu ran up to them. She and the other dancers had arrived earlier that day with the crew, and was waiting to hear from them.

"Miki you made it." she said as she looked to the small group of three, it seems that Fargo had split up and had gone to look for someone.

"Right on time," said Nikki grinning as he shoves Len forward, Len stumbled and nearly falls. He turned and looked to the Bard with a look of hurt and confusion.

"Huh? So is this the guy?" Yu asked as she pointed to Len. Miki nodded while Len looked to Yu then back to Miki then to Nikki, but before he could say anything Yu grabbed Len by the arm and pulled him away.

"Great he'll have to do, now come with me, we have no time to waste," she says as she drags the teen into the building.

"Wait where am I going?" he asks as he goes in.

* * *

"Wait, why am I doing this again?" Len says as he looks at himself in the mirror barely recognizing himself. He was now wearing green overalls over a yellow shirt that had purple polka dots. He was sporting brown leather gloves and wearing large red shoes that were two sizes too big, they had to stuff them with something and tie them up tightly so that they wouldn't fall off when he walked.

"Because you promised to help us out, remember?" Miki replies sweetly.

"But I thought that you meant I was going to help? You know, maybe moving things around, helping carry equipment, not babysitting." he said fumbling to take off his red bandana, he has to swat at his bangs just so that his eyes don't get poked out. Len sighs as he thought about getting a haircut sometime soon.

"Oh, but you look great," Mi the other backup dancer commented as she helps him remove his bandana, and place it beside him where the rest of his clothes laid. Miki grabs a hair band and uses it to tie Len's hair into a short ponytail, while Yu grasps a red-orange wig that was on top of a dresser and shoves it over Len's head. Len pouts as he sits down on the bed and looks to Yu, and her sister Mi who were both smiling cheerfully at him. He turns to Miki who couldn't stop giggling.

"And you're providing the Entertaining for the moment. We need to get everything settled out, and ready. Besides kids love clowns."

"Clowns," Len mutters, he didn't know what they were and frankly it was one of the few things he didn't want to know about. He didn't like the way things were turning out. "I look ridiculous."

"You're supposed to look that way," Yu responds, "those eyes of yours will definitely help." she comments afterwards as soon as she notices the color of his eyes for a brief moment.

The teen ignores the comment and whines. "C'mon you can't expect me to go out there looking like this!"

"Yes we can," Mi says as she snatches all of his clothing and runs out of the room, giggling madly.

"But wait I didn't agree to all of this!" he yells ready to chase after the dancer; too bad as he got up and tried to pull the wig off, he was pummeled down by two crazy women who showered him with more makeup, and other girly accessories.

They pinned him down and proceed to paint his face white, (Len already had very lightly tanned skin so they had to go over a layer or two of make up to create a look that nearly matched deathly pale). Despite his squirming they also added in a couple of designs that made him look more comical than he would have expected.

"Hold still," Yu cried out as she pulled on Len's cheek to paint in a little blue star. Realizing that struggling only made things worse for Len, he had no choice but to give into defeat. Eventually they worked on the finishing touches before they kicked him out of the building with a handful of balloons. Mi promised to give him back his clothes when the time came. Len walked around for a few seconds until he made it to the playground. He tried to avoid looking the other children in the eyes.

'_Man this is so embarrassing,__'_he thinks to himself as groups of smaller children crowd around him.

"Hey mistah cwown, are you here to pway with us?" one of the children asks; Len nods hesitantly (not that they notice) which causes the children to cheer before the mayhem begins. Len eventually ran out of balloons to hand out but was lucky enough that Miki showed up with paint supplies and paper. Unfortunately that was short-lived after they ran out paper and resorted to using Len for the fun of it.

The teen had to take it as the crazy little orphans splattered paint over his clothes. His overalls were not just green anymore, but yellow, orange, red, pink, violet, brown, and something that might not have been paint to begin with. The teen shuddered at the thought of it. Len actually had the chance for retribution, but did nothing about it. The though of hurting innocent little children annoyed him, and hey kids were kids it was the kind of things they do; besides he was probably that way once too when he was younger, maybe. Besides if he had done anything he probably would have gotten in trouble, thus he did nothing and sadly allowed the chaos to continue.

Finally after nearly an hour, things began to calm down and noting the designs on his face, the kids wanted to get their faces painted as well. Len obeyed and found that he had a bit of a talent for this (for a beginner anyway) while he painted stars, hearts, and even cute little cuddly versions of the creatures he had seen earlier. Though when it came to painting certain animals that he had no recollection of, Len had no clue.

A little girl named Mary asked if he could make her a kitten, to which Len stared at her confused, said animal was one of the creatures that Len didn't have the slightest idea what it was.

"A whatta?"

"You know a baby cat," said another girl, Len merely shook his head. His memory was coming up blank as he thought about the creature he had never heard of, which only served to make him curious to know what it was. He found out first hand, a couple of minutes later, what a kitten was when a boy actually brought one to him. Len froze at the sight of the adorable, miniature, feline. He didn't know what to think the only thing that was gong through his head was panic and run, repeating over and over as he stared into the thing's soul snatching yellow eyes.

The sight of those eyes were jolting a sort of reaction that he could only gather had been hidden deep in his subconscious for it worsened when the kitten mewed gleefully. _'Run,Run,RUN!' _kept repeating in his head while the children stared at him, but Len stood frozen with a look of horror on his comical kitten mewed again.

"GET IT AWAY! GET IT AWAY!" Len yelled finally acting as he took off and accidentally ran into a tree; he must have hit himself really hard as he rebounded and fell back on his rear. The children looked at each other confused before they followed Len to see if he was okay.

"Hey mister are you alright?" one of the older kids asked, Len winced and rubs his forehead a bit as he recovered only a few seconds later.

"Ow. yeah I think so," he replied and turned around only to find himself staring back at the demonic creature. He gasped and scampered back trying to get back up on his feet so that he could get enough distance away from the feline.

"What's wrong with this guy?"

"He's scared," said Mary.

"Of what? Sprinkles**(1)**?No way!"

"Nonono, pleasegetitaway. Leavemealonealready," Len muttered, shaking his head as he looked away from the group. The boy who was holding onto the kitten simply shrugged and walked away.

"Hey mister it's gone now," another kid said, but Len wasn't listening, he continued to mutter in a low voice while one of his hands was placed on the side of his neck for no reason.

"Mister?" Mary poked Len, startling the teen for a moment, snapping him back to reality.

"Huh...w-what?" He said confused.

"Sprinkles is gone now, see?" she says. Len glanced around carefully wondering if it was true, when he found that the girl was telling the truth, he sighed in relief.

"Are you okay?" Another boy asked.

"I...Yeah," he responded as he stood up.

"Yay!" They all cheered. Len smiled nervously as he rubbed the same spot again. Things had gone back to normal for only a few minutes. Suddenly everyone scampered away, Len couldn't help wondering why until he turned around and found himself cornered by a group of teens who were roughly around his age if not younger. Apparently word spread quickly about Len's erratic behavior and these kids wanted to see for themselves.

"Is it true?" one of them a boy named Paul asked.

"About what?" Len replies bewildered.

"About this," he gestured and suddenly another boy brought up a cat which he then took into his own hands. Len's eyes grew wide as he took a few steps back against the tree he had ran into earlier.

"That's not funny," Mary reappeared and tried to stop the older kids from bullying the newcomer. Paul pushed the girl aside as he snickered and tossed the cat onto Len's chest. The teen panicked when he found the fuzzy little feline clinging to his clothes.

"Nodon't, pleasegetoff, I'lldowhatyousay! I'lldowhatyousay!" He yells smacking the kitten away from him before seizing the opportunity to run away before they tried anything else. Next thing he knew he was running for dear life screaming bloody murder while being chased by a mob of crazy teenagers. They chased him around with sticks, stones, and smelly old shoes.

Nikki was tuning his guitar while the some of the crew members finished the preparations up on the stage when he heard Len yelling like crazy. He was surprised to a group of other kids following after him. Nikki thought nothing of it at first though, after passing by the second, third, and fourth time it began to sink in that maybe something was wrong. Unfortunately there was nothing that he could do about it for the moment, so he asked his friend Janice (who happened to be skipping by with one of her pet monsters a komodo dragon pup by her side) if she could do something about it.

Len was rather and quick and eventually managed to outran the mob of teens; he ran to the garden and looked for a place to hide behind a tree, but the fact that his clothes were colorful and a dead giveaway meant that he would definitely attract a lot of attention among other orphans. So it happened that one of the boys who were chasing him stumbled upon his hiding place and ended up blowing his cover.

"He's over here!" the boy cried out, Len cursed mentally as he found himself quickly surrounded once more. Their leader, Paul, came up ahead and gestured to one of his friends, "bring me Mr. Biggles," He said with a smirk on his face. The boys snickered to themselves as one of them brought forth a white cat with orange spots. Len shuddered in dismay and disbelief.

'_Where do they keep getting those…things?__'_ he thought while he panicked because he couldn't find a means of escape. Len was trembling somewhat uncontrollably unable to take a few steps back. Paul grabbed the feline and stroke its fur gently, "C'mon don't tell me you're afraid of some stupid cat, are you?"

"I…I… just get itawayplease," Len pleaded, he was trying his hardest to stay fierce but something about just looking at that creature made his defenses crumble, give in as if it were something he should do.

_'It's pointless...'_

"Hmm… if I did that, it wouldn't be much fun for us now, would it?" Paul replied. Before Len could even reply, Paul tossed the cat at him without warning. Len tried to get away but fell on his rear once again, his back was up against the fence and there was nothing that he could do. But the cat never got to him. Instead a lone figure fell from above the tree and caught the feline at the last minute. Len looked up at the figure surprised and confused at the same time.

It was a person with short light purple hair wearing a mesh cap, but that was as far as Len could tell. The stranger apparently wore an old brown leather jacket that seemed too big because it went down nearly past the thighs. Len assumed that the kid was wearing shorts due to the sight of the person's somewhat slender legs. His eyes trailed back up and noticed that Paul and his friends were suddenly backing away slowly now. He looked to the figure again and notice a small dagger held tightly in that person's other hand.

They said nothing as they glared at the new figure and Len before running away. Len was caught off guard when the kid turned around while still holding the cat; he looked at them nervously at first glance this kid looked like a boy. Len tilted his head in confusion for a moment which the boy merely giggled. Wait, giggled that couldn't be right, unless…

'_S__he__'__s a girl!__'_ he thought as he kept his distance, she was still holding that hideous monster. The girl only winked at him and walked away without explanation; Len's eye twitched unexpectedly, that hadn't happen in a long time.

"Hey Len!" another voice called out, this time it was Janice the bunny-girl Demi-human he had met back on Fargo's ship. Janice caught up to Len, her dragon pup following right after her.

"You alright?" she asks, Len nodded.

"Yeah, I am now," he replies as he gets up and tries to dust himself out but ends up smothering semi-dried paint on his gloves.

"Err… someone came and helped me out."

"Who?"

"No clue," he says, "besides it's a long story."

"Oh well. I almost forgot, Fargo said that they're finished with preparations..."

"Really? Finally," Len said in relief as he pulled off his gloves. "We're going to round of the children so they can watch the show, that is unless you want to he-"

"No! I mean it's okay you guys go on ahead. I need to get this stuff off of me before I really start looking like this for the rest of my life," Len says before Janice could even finish.

"Oh, okay then," says Janice as Len runs quickly only to find Mi waiting for him by the entrance. True to her word, she returned his clothes back to him and left saying she had to join the others on stage. Len glanced around making sure that no one was going to follow him and torment him again before he went inside looking for a room.

* * *

It took him nearly half an hour to get cleaned off, partially due to Miki's makeup not coming off so easily that he had to scrub hard until his face started turning red. Len got dressed back in his usual clothes, he looked at himself in the mirror noting that his lips were still a bit blue but there wasn't much he could do about that. He placed his shoes on and finished off with his bandana around his forehead. Satisfied with the way he looked, Len walked back out and went to watch Nikki's show, or more correctly the last part of his show.

It was Len's first time watching the Magical Dreamers perform, it surprised him how well Nikki sang, and played the guitar. One song in particular, Len recognized as the song of Marbule or at least that was what he thought it was called. He had heard the Sage whistling it many times before back when he was in Marbule.

He watched Nikki sing his heart out to all the kids and laughed a bit when he saw a group of girls holding up signs and throwing flowers up on stage while others were screaming and cheering for him. He joined the crowd and was surprised to see the same girl from before jumping and yelling no more than 10 feet away from where Len was standing. Apparently she hadn't noticed him due to the fact that he was no longer dressed in clown apparel. He wanted to thank her, but she probably wouldn't recognize him, and he wasn't sure if she had decided to keep that demon thing.

Miki, Yu, and Mi were all dancing gracefully around the stage, each were holding up bags. They reached inside and pulled out a handful of sugary treats and tossed them into the crowds. Kids jumped, hands raised in hopes of getting candy; Len managed to grab a few but gave them up to other kids who weren't as lucky, though he did save one for later.

The show went on for another 45 minutes; it didn't quite end though because Nikki was still going at it with his guitar playing a few requests of others songs that were very much popular. At the same time the food was being served so half the audience had gone off to get served Len being one of them. He wasn't really hungry that much (having already eaten earlier) but he saw Fargo over there by one of the serving tables.

"So, how's it going Sir?" Len asked as he walked up to him.

"Not bad, it's been a while since I've seen this place," he replied, "you?"

Len shrugged, "It was okay," he said before muttering something else but all Fargo could understand was the word "terrors". He chuckled for a moment while Len grabbed a plate and served himself a small serving of spaghetti, making sure to pick out the few pieces of meat.

"Well we still got a couple of hours," says Fargo as he turned to watch Nikki who had now invited a couple of teenage girls up on stage that ended up showing off their own dance moves in front of Miki and the other backup dancers.

"What then? Are you going back to Marbule?" Len asked as he picked up a fork and a napkin.

"Not for a while. I was probably thinking of doing a bit of a cruise over in the Zenan continents. Good for business you know?" Fargo replies, "what about you?"

"Still heading for Arni Village as soon as I can, Sir."

Fargo whistled. "That's a long way from here. Takes nearly half the day just to get there on foot, you're going on your own?" Len nodded hesitantly.

"So do you even know where Arni is located?" Fargo asked.

"Err… now that I think about it I haven't the slightest clue," he said before he and Fargo stated laughing.

* * *

Len sat down on one of the tables poking aimlessly at the pasta on his plate. He hadn't noticed that someone had walked up to him until he heard…

"Elurophobia." A feminine voice called out to him causing Len to turn around.

"Huh?" It was the same girl from before, she was standing beside him holding a plate stacked high with food. She placed her plate down on the table and took a seat diagonally from him before looking at him oddly.

"Oh... You don't mind if I sit here do ya?" she asks sweetly; Len had actually blanked out for a few seconds as he stares at her from head to well down to her chest (that's as far as he could go anyway without the table to block his view) then back up before he came back to reality and sputtered incomprehensibly.

"Oh no, not at all…uh…" he says as the girl began to eat like crazy almost like a starved animal. He gazes in a mixture of amazement and disgust as she wolfs down her food.

"So like I was saying," she spoke with a mouthful, Len was having a hard time understanding her. She gulped down her food and continued.

"Um elurophobia."

"I don't think I understand what you're talking about," Len replies as he scratches his head in confusion though the part of him wanted to ask.

"Hmmm weren't ya that clown from earlier?"

"Yeah," said Len hesitantly wondering how she could have figured that out. Maybe it was the paint on his lips, he grabbed a napkin and tried vainly to remove whatever traces were left while the girl giggled again.

"I knew it. It is you and you do have it," she said, though Len was still clueless.

"And what is that thing eluro whatever it's called?" He asked politely.

"Fear of cats of course," she replied and giggled when she saw Len cringe without warning. "Oh relax will ya? It's not that bad, heck if anything that's normal, compared to this friend of mines who was afraid of the number 13**(2)**;what was it called again?" she pauses and thinks about it for a second.

"Well never mind about that. Name's Lucy; you can call me Lu or Lulu if you like," she sighed. "I can't believe my mom had the audacity to name me Lucille. By the way, never call me Lucille or you'll be sorry, got it?" she said putting emphasis on the last few words, Len couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"So how about ya? Are ya going to tell me your name or what?" Lucy asks as she stuffs another biteful of food down.

"Oh well it's Lynx," Len replies.

"Lynx what kind of a name is that? Who'd be crazy enough to name you that?" She suddenly says.

"What about Lucille? What was your mom thinking?" He retorted having felt insulted that this girl, Lucy would make fun of the name the Sage gave him. Lucy turned a slight shade of pink.

"I was just joking, can you take a joke when you hear one?" she said when she saw the look of Len's face not understanding what she meant.

"Joke?" he repeated a few times, much to Lucy's bewilderment, before chuckling for a bit. "Oh I get it. I guess I got carried away. Most people just stick to calling me Len," he said.

"Why not Lynn?" Lucy asked, to which Len groaned. "Not you too," he mutters.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," He says quickly.

"So, I'm guessing you're a new face around here, did you just come today?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, I came with them," Len points to the Magical Dreamers.

"Wow, really? What's it like? Ooh you have to take me to see Nikki and get me an autograph." she says suddenly sounding like one of the hyperactive fangirls. Len and Lucy talked for a while. He decided not to tell her anything about his loss of memory even though it meant lying to the person who helped him out. She asked him where he was from; Len simply lied and said the first thing that came to mind, that he was from Porre.

Lucy had an odd look on her face, then smiled. "I'm from Porre too, well no I'm originally from Truce, but we moved down South when I was little, and haven't gone to visit for a while now."

Len remained quiet, nervous that the slightest slip up could reveal that he was lying. Lucy seemed to be making a face, glancing back to him for a second before making up her mind. "So what are you doing here, anyway?" She asked, Len told her that he was actually traveling around and that he was heading to Arni some time soon. They continued to talk for the time being, before Lucy decided that she had to go somewhere.

"You know, I'm..." the girl hesitated. "Nah never mind. I'll see you around Len," she says as she gets up gives him a pat on the shoulder before walking away.

* * *

The stage crews were finishing packing things up. Most of the kids were now back inside the orphanage, some were outside playing by the swing sets and playground; the sun was almost beginning to set.

"See now you're getting it," said Nikki as he watched Len play the guitar. Len had spent the past 18 minutes just trying to remember the chords that Nikki had asked him to play as he held his own guitar. All because he wanted to know how a guitar worked. He really needed to learn a thing about moderation, if not that, then at least keeping his mouth shut, literally.

"But it's not sounding anything like yours," said Len as he played slower than Nikki would have. Both he and Nikki were sitting down by the fountain; the teen couldn't help but laugh for no reason.

"I'm that terrible aren't I?" he asks Yu as he hands her the guitar and gives the pick he had used to play back to Nikki.

"Well, you're not that bad," Yu replies.

"Really?" Len asks with hope in his eyes.

"No you're terrible."

"Oh."

"I'm just kidding. Boy you take things a bit too seriously sometimes you know that right? Though seriously I think if you practiced hard enough, you might have the potential to maybe even replace Nikki, you certainly got the looks for it." She said winking at the teen as Miki showed up.

"So everything is ready to go now, we'll be heading out real soon," she said as she sat down next to them.

"So I'm guessing this is goodbye?" Len asked as he looked up to the sky, the moons were coming into view now.

"Well when you get that thing done you can always come and visit us." Said Miki.

"And we can play dress up again, maybe next time we can dress you up as Nikki," said Yu.

_'Like that's ever going to happen,'_ Len thought.

"That would be nice. Thanks you guys it means a lot to me," he smiled; he was glad that he had generous friends like Nikki, and Miki that cared. Fargo showed up, "Well, we're done packing things up. We're heading back to Termina, should be there and away from the mainland by nine."

Mi waved goodbye as she headed towards the entrance, to his surprise Yu gave him a kiss on the cheek and joined her sister. Miki embraced Len a hug and followed after the two dancers. Nikki merely nodded and took both his guitars as he too followed Miki and the others. Only Len and Fargo remained.

"So what now?" Len asked.

"I talked to Dario, and I arranged for you to stay here for a while. You can stay here as long as you need."

"Thank you Sir."

"If you need anything just ask him, I'm sure that he will be willing to help you out."

"Yes Sir; I'm in your debt Sir," he said as he shakes Fargo's hand.

"Ah don't mention it... Heh, I'll see you around then."

"Yeah."

"Oh and good luck," Fargo added as he turned away and headed back to the entrance where Nikki, Miki, Yu and Mi were waiting. Len waved goodbye as they left before he headed back to the orphanage.

**

* * *

**

To Be Continued

1) Sprinkles was the name I gave the cat that we were dissecting in our Anatomy and Physiology back when I was a junior in high school. It was brownish orange with some stripes. I asked the teacher if I could have the cat's brain put in a jar so that I could take it with me, but the teacher said no, something about toxic it would have been cool **:( ****  
**2) Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13, and I think coulrophobia is the fear of clowns. If I'm wrong let me know.


	4. Chapter 4 Birthday Twist

**AN: **looking back at this (when I first wrote this chapter a few years ago) I realize that I have several grammar errors, but for some reason my spelling is okay. Odd, and scary… **O.O **that being said, please leave a **review **or I'll force you to listen to me singing and trust me, it's not pleasant.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Chrono Cross, just OCs  
**  
Code Thingy:  
**"Speaking"  
_'Thinking'  
__**Words that express some meaning  
**_**ELEMENT/Tech  
**_--Flashback--_

**

* * *

Chapter 4: Birthday Twist  
**I had a lot of fun the previous night with Nikki and the others that I was a bit sad to see them go, so quickly after everything that went down at this orphanage. After all the crew members left, the remaining children had been gathered by the adults and led back to their respected rooms. They had no problem with me joining them since they must have known that I would be staying here as well. They had generously given me a room of my own (actually it turned out that it was the same room where Miki and her friends had forced me to wear that ridiculous outfit; the Slasher and my bag were already there but placed atop a tall dresser so that no kid could get their hands on them), and some pajamas to wear as well. They bid me goodnight, before I locked the door as an extra precaution.

I had gotten up rather late this morning or I guess I should say noon since it was already an hour after. I got dressed as quickly as possible and place everything away before going out to see what was going on and to see if I can get something to eat. I notice Lucy was there, she waves cheerfully at me before walking off and joining her friends.

Apparently breakfast had been long over, but I hadn't missed lunch yet so I serve myself whatever was there. I find a place to eat and take a seat by some children who were eating and writing things down on pieces of paper. I ate in silence never introducing myself to their group before the children (some of them at least) started looking at me. Some of them say hello to me and I reply back politely, while others simply continued on with their work.

A girl asks me if I was new here, and I tell her, "Yes, but only staying here for a short time." We talk for a bit, and I say that I came with the Magical Dreamers, which leaves the group surprised then asking me a series of questions about Nikki and Miki half of which I could barely answer. I excuse myself afterwards when I finish my lunch and go looking for Sir Dario, the headmaster of this place. One of the adults I ask says that his office was up on the second floor and that she would have to take me there as children aren't usually allowed at this time of the day.

I thank her and follow her towards his office. She makes a bit of conversation and asks me where I was from and I had reply, "Marbule."

"Really? We don't get that many people from Marbule, traveling merchants on occasion, but that's about it," she says to me as we pass by a few rooms. "The kids here are mostly orphans from Termina. A handful of them though are children of the teachers who teach at this orphanage, they live here as well. Ah here we go," she says and gently knocks on the door before entering. I quickly go in while she speaks a few words to the headmaster, she excused herself before leaving and closing the door.

"You must be the young man Sir Fargo spoke about, it's a pleasure to meet you," he says, his hand is sticking out waiting for me to shake it. Sir Dario was not quite what I expected. I would have thought that the headmaster would have been an old man and elegantly dressed, but Sir Dario looked to be at least maybe eight to ten years older than me. He has blond haired and skin slightly darker than my own, and was dressed in simple clothing and a coat to top things off. The only thing that seemed out of place with this man was the intricate pendant that hung around his neck.

I shook his hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you too, Sir Dario," I reply.

"There's no need for formalities," he says with a smile on his face, "just call me Dario."

"Oh well, okay then, Dario."

"So what can I do for you?" He asks.

"Well," I start to say. "I was kinda wondering if you had a map of El Nido in your possession, I'm heading to Arni, but truth is I really don't know my way to get there."

"What business do you have in Arni, if it's not too much to ask?" he says. So I explain to him my situation, bits and pieces of what I had been through these last few weeks, what The Sage had told me about Serge, the deal with Sir Fargo just so I could get to the mainland, to now.

"You lost your memory right? I can understand why he would recommend you to me." he says and tells me that he had gone through a similar experience and that he would more than willingly help me out. As he had listened to my story, I listen to his.

He goes on to say that he was once a Deva reminding me of Sir Fargo's tale of General Viper who lead his men into the Dead Sea never to return again. I thought he meant all the Dragoons had gone yet here was a Deva sitting across from where I sat looking at me with calm eyes. Dario must have known that I knew about the Dragoons as he went on to explain the reason he hadn't been with them before I could even ask. He had been sent out on an expedition in on of the islands of El Nido a year before, but got involved in an accident. He didn't go much into details about what happened. All he said was that he survived though gravely injured and managed to end up on an island not far from here. A nursemaid had found him and cured him back to health.

It occurred to me, just alike we were when Dario revealed to me that he too lost his memory;

"I must have been this way for almost four years. Then one day, I woke up to find this," he says gesturing to the pendant. "The nursemaid did not know where it came from or how it got there. She thought that it was mines, but at the time I wasn't sure. Then, it just happened..."

"What happened?" I say. He shakes his head. "It all came back to me...Everything, and I realized that it had been so long since I had seen my friends and comrades and even my own brother. Did they ever know what had become of me, or had they assumed that I had died. When I was well enough, I eventually returned to Viper Manor only to find it in ruins and that everyone I knew had disappeared."

"In the few years of my absence, General Viper and the others, even my own brother had gone to the Dead Sea never to return again and my hometown occupied by Porre's forces. I admit I was at lost at what to do, but then _**she**_ appeared to me. I'm not sure if I was dreaming or not, but she told me about different worlds… I still remember her words._** 'We may be from different worlds, but you are you, and I am I'**_." He says and looks to the left. I turn to look as well and see a large portrait hung on the wall. It was of a woman, wearing a tiara on top of her long violet hair that was much darker than Lucy's. She was dressed in a gown of white, light green and some blue.

I wondered who this woman was, and can't help myself when I blurt it out, "Who was she?" without much restraint.

"My fiancée, Riddel. She was the General's daughter."

"Did she go with General Viper and the rest?" He nods a look of sorrow formed on his face. That look was all it took for me to confirm that she didn't return either.

"This pendant belonged to my mother, it was of the few mementos I have left of my family but I had given it to Riddel as a gift, for our engagement..." He says fiddling with the item a pensive expression as if thinking about something else. And I wonder, if he had given the Pendant to his fiancée, how did he get it back?

"It could be a sign that maybe Riddel, General Viper, your brother and all the others are still alive and somewhere out there, right?" I say.

He stops and looks at me and as if we were both coming to the same conclusion. "It could be, You know it's a bit strange that I'm even telling you this. I bet it must be annoying to hear something depressing like this," he said with a laugh as he kept looking at Riddel's portrait and I can tell that he looks down a bit .

"No, it's okay," I reply quickly. "It's kind of a relief to finally find someone I can relate to. I'm not the only one who has gone through this. But for four years? It must have been tough going that long, I don't think I can ever manage," I say.

"Eventually it will get easier, you never know. Somewhere along the way some things got to jog your memory. Maybe all it takes is a simple little thing like a memento to do the trick," he says tucking the pendant away. He opens one of the drawers in his desk, and takes out a large folded piece of parchment.

"May I?" I ask pointing to the many books he had on the shelf. He nods an okay while he unfolds the parchment. I skim through the titles noting that many of the ones in the top shelf were fictional books, with titles that I was not familiar with. As I looked to the ones in the bottom shelf, I realized that these were history books predating the 11th century some about El Nido, and some not. There was one pertaining the Guardia-Porre War of 1005, another about Truce, and a couple on Medina; these must be places located in the Zenan Mainland, I think.

However, there was a book with a purple cover which held no title at all, that caught my attention. Curious as I was I take it out and flip it open to a random page, silently reading a passage from the book:

_The Neo-Epoch was damaged and expelled into space without any phase changes.  
__Warning!  
__Warning!  
__Engine severely damaged! Output has been reduced to 30%! Only six Antiparticle shells remain! Shield range 16 sectors! L-spin reaction at the starboard bow! The enemy fleet is moving towards us!  
_"_Gyado, wake up!__"__  
__"__Hiyu Corps, use your final power..."_ _**(1)**_

"Ah here we go," Dario says distracting me from the novel that I had taken an interest in. I close the book and walk back to see what he had spread out on his desk. It was a very large map of what I could only guess was El Nido. There were several islands in El Nido, I notice that Guldove is apparently located west from here. I try to memorize each of the names of the islands, looking back and forth between each isle and remembering which direction they were from each other. Dario gave a brief description of El Nido's archipelago as a bit of a lesson:

**Main Continent of El Nido:** It has no exact name other than being the mainland of El Nido; it is the largest region of this archipelago, and includes the following areas:  
**Mt. Pyre-** Region said to have been home to the Ancient Dragonians, impossible to enter by normal means.  
**Shadow Forest-** a forest, wildlife live there (we had passed through here before when coming to this establishment)  
**Viper Manor **(the name had been crossed out and replaced with **Tears of the Sun**) the former the dwelling of Lord Viper and the Acacia Dragoons. Since its reconstruction, it is now an orphanage and school for children. **  
Termina-** Town now governed by Porre.  
**Fossil Valley-** Desert like region that's divided into north and south parts (I'll need to pass through this area to get to Arni).  
**Divine Dragon Falls-** Cave, springs, and a river holy place by the worshipers of the Divine Dragon Faith many years ago.  
**Arni-** Fisherman Village in the south, (the destination I was heading to)  
**Hydra Marshes-** Swampland; home to Hydras and other creatures, South of Mt. Pyre.  
**Lizard Rock: **area that leads to Opassa Beach, named by the villagers of Arni. One would be likely to come across Komodo Dragons and other such creatures here.  
**Opassa Beach-** Sparkling clean beach (the only one in El Nido) found in the southernmost area of El Nido also south of Arni past Lizard Rock.

Then there were the islands:

**Earth Dragon Isle-** Island north of the mainland; rumors go that an Earth Dragon inhabits this area, though there is no proof of that as some areas are impenetrable.  
**Isle of the Damned-** Island east of Earth Dragon Island (Dario gave no description of this)  
**Guldove-** Mountainous Islands west of Termina, humans and Demi-humans co-exist peacefully.  
**Sky Dragon Isle-** South of Guldove, said to be dwelling place of the divine Sky Dragon of El Nido  
**Gaea's Navel-** a supposed "Primeval Forest" South of Sky Dragon Isle; said to be unexplorable.  
**Water Dragon Isle-** South of Arni; home of the Fairies and supposedly the water dragon.  
**Marbule-** East of Water Dragon Isle; Demi-human colony where humans and Demi-humans co-exist as well. (I Lived here for a while)  
**Dead Sea-** North of Marbule; no known information on this as there is no way to get inside. (or maybe there is but those who did know never returned to tell about it)  
**The Bend of Time-** strange island, not many dare to enter  
**Hermit's Hideaway-** Home to Sir Radius, a former Deva who had retired five years ago.  
**El Nido Triangle-** Not really an island but a strange area that bewilders many, further studies are needed

There were a few areas in the map that he gave no name or description; before I could ask why I think to myself that maybe it was because they were not inhabitable or because no one had ever bothered going there. Dario points to the part that was Fossil Valley. I spend the next couple of minutes studying the map intently making sure that I memorize every last detail of El Nido. Maybe it would help if I had something to write this down on.

"Okay now the best route to take is here," he says as he traces his finger on the parchment, "If you take it, you should reach Arni before sunset... I wish I could come along but I have duties to take care of here. It's been quite a while since I last saw Sir Radius; I believe he is the village chief there. If you see him please do give him my regards will you?"

I nod, "Yes sir I will."

"If you need anything to eat, don't hesitate to ask the cooks," he says as he starts to fold up the map.

"Thank you. Err, by the way, may I borrow this?" I say still holding up the book I had been reading.

"Sure, go right ahead... Never been much of a science fiction fanatic," he grins. I thank him once more and excuse myself, the book in my hand. As suggested, I try to find my way to the Kitchen, again I ask for directions, another maid informs me on the fastest way to get there. Within a few minutes I find the kitchen area full of cooks at work. I tell the head chef that Dario had sent me to get some food, he made no objections and placed a few items wrapped in wax paper into a paper bag before handing it to me. I thank the cook and leave the kitchen walking down the hall and heading back to the room that had temporarily been given to me for my stay here.

As I did, I notice the same girl from the day before (Mary, if I recall right), standing by my door. As soon as she sees me, she comes walking towards me with a smile on her face. I think she knew who I was, but how she managed to recognize me, I didn't know for sure.

"Hi," she simply says giggling and waving before skipping right past me.

I go to my room to start packing up what few things I had with me. It was then that I saw the book and pencils, strange little bottles and a few paintbrushes that were lying on the bed. I opened the book...

And found that the pages were all blank.

Mary had probably brought this for me, but why? I gather everything else and put it in my bag minus the things that Mary left. I make sure the Slasher is strapped securely before grabbing the writing utensils and paints, balancing them on top of the book, I have to return them. Satisfied with my arrangement I walk out of my room and close the door before continuing down the left hall leading me outside.

I head towards the backyard looking for Mary to return her things...I recognize the same boy, (I don't know his name) looking straight at me as I walked along. He studies me from head to toe while I tried to remain composed.

"Hey you, you new here, man?" he says with a smug look on his face that I can't help but shudder for a moment while he continues to stare at me.

"Actually, I was leaving," I reply shifting my bag over my shoulder, "I have things to do," I add as I try to walk past him.

"Oh really? Hmm, you know, your voice sounds vaguely familiar, have we met before?" He asks stepping in front of me.

"I dunno, maybe," I say and try to walk past him, but he gets in my way.

"I know!" He exclaims a little too loud for my liking, "you're that clown, the catman," he says with a look of what I can only assume was I'm-right-aren't-I.

"Yeah I guess that's me," I admit though out of nerves, it comes out as a bit of a stutter.

"So you're not sticking around then? Shame you won't stay a little while longer," He replies and takes one last look at me, I see him eyeing the Slasher before he takes a step aside, letting me pass.

"We could have hooked you up with Muffins," he adds as an afterthought. The thought of them chasing me around again with those demonic creatures of theirs brought chills down my spine but I managed to force a bit of a laugh. "Yeah, I guess that sounds… Err good, but I really have to get going though."

"Sure whatever, catch you later," he said as he walks away. I sigh and walk a bit further until I see Mary sitting down by the swings.

She notices me approaching to her. "Hey!" she says in her cheerful voice. "Did you like my present?" She asks.

"Present?" I say holding out the supplies balancing them still.

"Yeah, for you silly," she giggles.

"Oh err I didn't know, I thought you had left them there. Actually, I was going to return them to you, but a present," I laugh a bit, my face feels a little red all of a sudden. "It's really nice, but I wish you could have stayed and told me sooner, instead of having me look like a dork …"

She keeps giggling, "but that wouldn't have been much fun, um I don't know your name mister."

"Oh, it's err, Lynx but you can call me Len."

"Your name is funny, but really cute, I will call you Lenny." she smiles.

Lenny? Well, that's a new one… "Hmm, I got something for you," I say as I put the things into the bag hastily, I can fix that later though. I take off the necklace I got when I was in Marbule, I figure since she gave me something, it would only be fair that I return the favor.

"Here, it's a good luck charm, it's made of rainbow shell and some beads and stuff." I put it on her, the beads and shells jingle when they came in contact, "It's so pretty and shiny," she said, her eyes wide with joy.

"I'm glad you like it." But then her smile faded away, "You're leaving, aren't you?"

"Yes, I have to."

"But you'll come back won't you?" she asks almost pleadingly, I admit I was taken aback for a moment since that's never happened to me.

"Hmm... I guess when I'm done with this, I will 'kay?" She nods cheerfully. "Take care I," I say, though maybe it wasn't a good idea, who knows how long this would take. I walk back to the front gate and depart from the orphanage and out into the unknown.

* * *

What took minutes the last time I passed here, seemed more like hours. I spend most of the time outrunning the creatures that inhabit the forest, they chase after me, but give up when they can't catch me. Eventually I managed my way through the forest paths and ended up in a clearing that I assume was the North side of Fossil Valley. It was a bit warmer and not that fresh as I feel the sudden change in climate. Fossil valley had no trees to shield the near intense rays of the sun.

The air was dry and uncomfortable to bear. I took out my hat and used it to shade my face, but the winds continue to knock it away from me. I'm forced to retrieving it several times to the point that I have no choice but to give up and place my hat back with my other belongings before continuing down the north side of Fossil Valley into the South.

I notice that there was little life as I walk along, save for the few creatures that inhabit this area. I do my best to avoid them in case of another chase. That is until I came across an animal that I knew was a Dingo (I recognized this creature from a book I had read back in Marbule), I was confused because I'm sure they were larger. It barks at me, and next thing I know I hear some strange noises coming from behind.

I turn around to see what it was, only to be thrown back by something enormous. I wince and look up and see a giant bird looking down at me rather annoyed. It's white with some green and red plumage that was ruffled as if aggravated by my presence. It lets out a loud screech like caw and I immediately get to my feet, dropping my bag in the process as I take out the Slasher in hopes to scare it away. This only seems to anger it even further as it swoops down at me, its sharp beak coming right at me.

It misses when I raise the Slasher in an attempt to intercept its attack. I fend off its attack momentarily but the impact is enough to knock me back down again. In my confusion I ended up dropping the Slasher as it skids to the left. Cursing to myself I hurry over to retrieve it; but that turns out to be a bad idea. I didn't think the bird would be seeing me trying to reach for my weapon. I hurry to reach for it before it could at me again, I grab the handle but then I feel a sudden sharp pain on my arm.

I cry out in agony, and see the birds' talons digging deep into my skin as it pins my arm to the ground. I struggle and punch at the bird's leg causing it to loosen its grip on me, enough for me to quickly pull away the Slasher still in hand. I get up and back away while clutching at my arm, right away, the sleeve of my shirt was staring to spot with red. The bird turns and see me trying to escape, to my horror it chases after me, ready to attack again, but this time I would be too.

Its leg comes down trying to pin me down with its claws once more; I dodge it by lunging out of the way. Unfortunately for that move, it only left me hurting even more as I did a bit of a roll and crashed into the rocky terrain which in turn leaves me freaking out even more when I realize that I'm clutching on to what seems to be a piece of bone of some sort. My arm starts to throb and I can see blood seeping out of the freshly made wounds, I wonder to myself, if Miki finds out that I ruined what she got for me, what would she say? No time to be thinking about that, I see the giant bird turning around and rearing its ugly head at me when...

"**GRAVITY BLOW**!"

The big bird is hurled out of the way by some enormous black ball that came out of nowhere. I turn to look and see where the voice was coming from, there was someone else out here but the sudden brightness made it impossible to see where. The bird gives a shrieking sort of cry and goes towards the other individual while ignoring me in the process. I take the opportunity to switch the Slasher over to my uninjured hand.

"Hey! Over here!" The voice cries out in a taunt.

"Lucy?" I say recognizing the voice almost immediately. I squint my eyes and see that it is in fact Lucy standing from a distance that was at least 30 feet away with one arm raised high, glowing violet and black. Whatever the glowing was, it disappears and it looks as if she's pocketing something for a moment before taking out what looked like a bow and arrow. She quickly comes running towards us, focusing on her target. The giant bird prepares for her, but I wasn't going to let it get away. I tighten my grip on the Slasher with my uninjured arm and without a second thought I drive it right into the bird's leg as hard as I could before it could go to Lucy.

"How do you like that?" I yell, giving back retribution for my own wounds. I was surprised when no sooner that I attacked, an arrow struck the creature between its eyes, and a second at its throat.

"What are you waiting for, run!" I hear Lucy yelling at me. I get the hint pulling the blade out of its leg, and running back as the bird gives out a gurgle like cry and hits the ground a few feet away from me. Had I not moved, I'm sure it would have crushed me; A shot to the head would definitely mean it was dead, but I can see that it's still twitching.

I take another couple steps back and out of the way slumping down a nearby rocky wall before sighing in relief, but I knew things weren't okay just yet. The sight of that creature staring at me with those lifeless black eyes freaks me out a bit. I look down and stare vividly at my arm, the creatures'claws had ripped right through the sleeve of my white long sleeve shirt. The sleeve itself was almost stained all the way with blood, which was still pouring from the wound and dripping down my hand.

My whole arm started to feel as if it were burning, a sensation that I was already familiar with. If anything, it was a warning, but I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of it. I was just glad I was still alive.

"Hey Lynx… I mean Len." Distracted, I look up and see Lucy standing a couple of few feet away.

"Lucy? What are you doing here?" It's the first thing I can think of to ask, but she merely smiles as she walks closer to the dead animal.

"You know I was hoping for more of a 'thank you' considering I just saved your life for the second time," she says as puts her bow away and stares at the bird.

"Oh sorry," I stammer, "thank you."

"See that wasn't so hard to say and your welcome."

"But I don't understand why are you here?" I ask again feeling a bit lightheaded that I must remain sitting down.

"What does it look like?" she says, and she nudges the beast with her foot, "Poor Mr. Dodo, I was going for the heart but oh well." Lucy turns and looked at me with her hands at her hips.

"You could have at least waited for me you know. Hmph," she says suddenly.

"Wait…I…what?"

"Luckily, words spread quickly at the orphanage. Heard something about you were going this way, dunno why though. Anyway good thing I found you eh?"

"Wait, why were you looking for me?"

She shrugs, "to talk."

"Talk about what?" I say staring at her suspiciously, but she simply smiles. "It doesn't matter anymore. What does matter is that you're hurt and we need to do something about it."

I slowly raise my arm, by now my hand is completely red, my blood dripping from it into a little puddle. The burning pain that I had ignored before, was slowly working its way up my arm. I make no hint of this as Lucy whistles and approaches me.

"Ouch, that's a bit deep there isn't it? Take that off will ya?" It takes some time to roll my right sleeve where the Dodo had struck me due to the parts of the sleeve sticking to my skin. Before I know it, she makes a grab at the upper (and not to mention unbloody) part of my arm and begins to study the lower half closely, I can't help but grimace and try to get free from her grasp.

"I have no healing elements with me. Do you?" Lucy asks as she finally lets go and finds the bag I had dropped earlier. When she finds it she just starts rummaging through it. I am appalled at her lack of respect and ready to complain when she sighs.

"Nope nothing except **BRACE **and **ANTIDOTE** a lot good those will do... Well, we'll need to get this cleaned so it doesn't get infected. Any clues where we can find some water?" She says.

I think about it and try to recall any areas that Dario told me had water when it hit me, "There's a place called Divine Dragon falls, it's a little down South. There should be a river nearby in that area." I reply.

"Really? Then what are we waiting for? L-et's go." she says as she helps me up.

"What? We?" I couldn't help but ask a bit faintly.

Lucy makes a face at me after mentioning that. "Well yeah. Do you think that you can get to Divine Dragon Falls on your own? You look like you're going to pass out any minute now. Not to mention with that arm of yours all messed up? You won't be able to do much to fight those monsters, and even if you do make you way there I doubt you have any experience in treating injuries, am I right?"

"I uh...well," I was stumped once again for my lack of knowledge and experience.

"C'mon you need me," she says. The tone of her voice reminds me of my friend back in Marbule and if they were any way alike, I could only guess how this conversation was going to end. There's no way I'm going to win, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try.

"Err, no thanks, I'm better off on my own," I say dropping the Slasher just so that I could pick up the things that she had dropped on the floor.

She stomps her foot and I look up as she says, "Hold on. You're not thinking about leaving a poor defenseless girl like me all alone now are you?"

"Defenseless?" I retort gesturing back at the Dodo. She looked as well but turns back and gives me a sort of look that made me chuckle a bit.

"C'mon, take me with you," she pulls me up to my feet by grabbing both arms before trying to shake me around.

"Please can't you just go back the orphanage?" I ask after she lets go.

"No way! C'mon, the two of us on an adventure, it will be fun!" she cheers and tries to grab my arms again shaking even harder.

"Ow, Ow, stop!" I yell as I pull away stumbling back. I sigh and push my hair away from my face as I give in. What was the worst that could happen anyway?

"Okay, fine, you win. It seems I won't be able to get rid of you will I?"

She giggles, "Tee hee, nope. Besides it beats staying at the Orphanage day in day out. With the two of us going together what's the worse that can happen? By the way, where are we going?"

"Arni," I reply.

"Oh really? Then what are we waiting for? Next stop Arni, well actually first Divine Dragon Falls! Ha ha let's go!" she says as she points to nothing in particular. I can't help but roll my eyes at her enthusiasm.

"Uh huh." She takes off running without warning, and I'm still here picking things up. She turns around only a couple seconds later and realizes that I had not joined her.

"Len?" I was on my knees gathering up the rest of my things, and getting Slasher. "Wait up," I say, though I'm sure I can hear Lucy groan impatiently from the distance.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right way?" She asks again, I had lost count after the fifteenth that she asked me.

"Yes," I reply sluggishly I feel a bit tired. We made it out of Fossil Valley only to end up walking along the forest paths for what seemed like hours, and getting lost maybe once or twice. Just my luck. Eventually I think we get back on the right path as there weren't that many trees around. I look up constantly now, because the sun was beginning to set.

"Just how long have we been out?" I say more to myself, but am interrupted when Lucy nudges at my ribs hard with her elbow.

"What?" I say wincing a bit and hoping I won't end up with a bruise. Seriously, I'm hoping it won't bruise.

"Water," she replies.

"Where? I don't see anything," I say squinting my eyes but finding nothing resembling to what she said.

"No not see, hear it? Over there," she runs off on her own.

"Lucy? Hey! Wait for me!" I yell as I chase and stumble after her. I ran past the bushes and some wild creatures similar to the ones I encountered earlier at Fossil Valley, before finally catching up with her within seconds. She's right, there is water. A river flows down and forming a small lake, surrounded by a few cliffs that I think lead into a cave. This must be Divine Dragon Falls.

"See, I knew we'd find it sooner or later." Lucy has a smile on her face.

"Yeah," I say somewhat out of breath as I find myself clutching my arm again, the burning feeling was returning with a vengeance, I try to fight back the urge to grimace.

"Well let's get to it." She says taking off her jacket (I see she's wearing a short white t-shirt that was covered over by a black tank top) before getting to her knees. I drop my bag to the side and do the same while she rummages through one of the inside pockets of her jacket in search of something.

She takes out a small folded towel and a black bottle with no label, she places them to the side before rummaging again. Lucy takes out a handful of little cotton balls, and sets them to the side as well. Afterwards when she's done, she tosses her jacket next to my belongings and feels for the water.

"It's not warm, but it will do for now," she says soaking the towel. I flinch when she grabs my arm.

"Relax," she says and I try to while biting down on my lower lip. She dabs and rubs at my wounds gently to clean away the excess blood. Lucy's really careful not to make it worse, while I fight back the tears of pain. Good thing she's so focused on my arm, the last thing I need is to be called a crybaby.

Dried blood is eventually washed away to the point where only three long gashes across my skin remain. I was a bit relieved by the sight of the dark pinkish red flesh, and blood that was around the edges, because that was all that was there and nothing more, but then why did the burning persist so much?

Lucy dabs away at my arm with the cotton balls before sighing frustratingly. She flicks the ball away and grabs my arm tightly that a slight yelp escapes my lips but I guess she didn't notice.

"Hmm, you may want to hold still," she says distracting me from my thoughts not realizing that she just grabbed the bottle and pulled the cork away.

"Why?" I ask seeing said bottle that she was now sniffing. Whatever it is, it makes her stick her tongue out in disgust. I wonder what it is but I have a feeling I'm about to find out as Lucy ignores my question and instead pours the contents all over my arm.

"AGHH!" I cry out jerking my arm around in more pain, "What is that?" I yell. There's a foul smell coming from my arm, and the stinging sensation was now overriding the burning one.

"Oh that? Alcohol. It's supposed to sting a little." She finally says, now she tells me. I wish she would have told me sooner because contrary to what she says…

"A little?!" I choke out, "A little?!"

"Relax it only hurts for a little while then it goes away, besides I had to. How else am I supposed to make sure those cuts like yours are thoroughly cleaned. Honestly don't you know it could get infected if you don't. You could have ended up losing an arm or something," she justifies as she pulls out some bandage wraps. "You wouldn't want that now, would you?"

I calm down taking in everything she said. "No. But how do you know all this? You're just a -"

"Girl?"

"Actually I was going to say kid," I say.

"I'll have you know I'm 14," she replies and mutters something I don't understand. "Sides' it never hurts to learn, at least that's what my mom always says. She knows all sorts of things about stuff and stuff."

Wait, she said her mom, so then what was she doing at the Orphanage? "And you always come this prepared?"

Lucy shrugs, "You never know when it might come in handy," she replies while wrapping the bandages in layers.

"So if you have a mom, then why do you live in the orphanage with the other children? Is she a teacher?" I ask remembering what that lady had said not long ago. From what Lucy had told me she lived in Porre, and from what I learned Porre doesn't seem to have a good reputation here in El Nido. So maybe something bad happened over there and they might have moved here.

She ties a knot. "Huh? Well yeah she is, but my mom's very touchy about setting foot back here in El Nido, so she stayed back home in Porre."

So much for my deduction.

"I guess you can say I'm like you, traveling around." She says making sure she tied the know extra tight.

_'Like me? Yeah right,'_ I think. "So then you're on your own and your mother approved?"

Lucy makes a face, "No, she didn't, but then again she didn't have much of a choice. Well I might as well tell you… I'm looking for my dad, and from what mom said, he lives somewhere in El Nido. I've never met him and for all I know he probably doesn't know I exist, or he might be dead or something," Lucy says sounding sad.

"And you want to reunite with him?" I ask feeling a little wistful myself, what about my family? Did they even know if I was still alive?

She snorted not sounding sad anymore. "Yeah I guess you can say that. I'm going to find that deadbeat good-for-nothing excuse for a human being and I'm going to give him a little bit of this and a little bit of that," Not quite what I expect to hear. Her tone is deadly as she stands up and demonstrates a few punching and kicking moves that have me thinking twice about making her mad in the near future.

"Anyway," Lucy says returning to normal, "I ended up spending most of my money on just the ferry to get to Termina, It hadn't occurred to me that it would be a long journey just to find the jerk, so I stayed at that Orphanage for the time being gathering supplies until I knew what to do. And well, I didn't want to go alone. But then you came along," she smiles.

She places the remaining bandages and the bottle away and does her best to clean the towel, "you know, I've been meaning to ask... nah never mind. So what about you? Why the big rush to go to some fisherman village?" She says and I realize that she's changing the subject.

"Well it's a little complicated," I say.

"I'm sure it's not that complicated," she counters.

I would have said 'You have no idea,' but I'm sure Lucy would probably pressure me for answers. "It's something important concerning a person named Serge. I searched around when I was in Marbule and got in on a clue that he lives in Arni. So I ended up back on the mainland and here we are," I say. I'm not exactly lying to her so no harm done right? I wash the blood away from my hand.

Lucy whistles. "Wow all that? Imagine if there is no Serge, well then it would have all been for nothing, eh? What then? Would you hightail it back to Porre?"

"I don't know what I would do," I reply, "so don't jinx it for me." I say grabbing my backpack, "we should hurry." I say as I stand up. She starts to stare at me, I don't know why.

"What?" I asks.

"You're going looking like that? That shirt looks horrible and not to mention gross," she says as I unroll the sleeve a bit and have a look at it. Yeah it was ripped and stained with blood but if I keep it rolled up no one might notice.

"Maybe you should just take it off." Lucy suggests.

"But…"

"Oh c'mon Len, you got another shirt just over that. Why would you need two anyway? It's really hot to be dressed that way," she says. I really didn't want to make such a big deal out of it seeing as how I need to get to Arni as soon as possible. If she gets mad, who knows she might end up popping me upside the head with one of those punches of hers.

I sigh. "Fine, I'm going over there, don't you look," I point an accusing finger at her before walking over to a bush nearby to remove my clothes. She mutters something I don't quite catch before she giggles.

I loosen my belt just so that I can pull out my outer shirt first. I turn around anxiously in case Lucy was lurking nearby, she's not so I take is a good sign to remove my other shirt. I take the white shirt with the bloodstains and fold it up and placing it to the side. I grab the brown short sleeve shirt and put it on partially over my head when...

"Hey Len I know you said not to peak, but you should be done by now, so I was wondering if you don't mind if I…" I hear Lucy gasp, I pull my shirt down quickly and turn to face her. She's standing only a few feet away from me, holding a paper bag in her hands. My back had been turned and exposed to her when she found me, the way she reacted was enough for me to know that she had seen it.

Her eyes are wide open as she keeps staring at me. "W-what happened?" She stammers after maybe 10 seconds of silence. It's the first time I've seen her startled though I was kinda hoping it wouldn't be because of me. What kind of questions are forming in that mind of hers? What was she thinking? Was she going to pester me about it? Would she be disgusted and leave? I fix my shirt tucking it down then tightening my belt over it again. "It's nothing," I finally say as I walk to her, but she takes a step back. She must be revolted then.

"Are you sure?" She asks looking worried.

"Yeah, it's nothing to worry about." I say forcing a smile. "Err, what was it you wanted?" I ask hoping to change the subject. Lucy looks at me oddly before looking back to her hand.

"Um… you going to eat this? I found some cheese too," she says waving the bag around,

I shake my head, "I'm not hungry…" not after this.

"Oh well that's great then, more for me," she says, but I can tell she's being a bit cautious. She starts making a sandwich right there in front of me, but then pauses. "You know, I didn't find any meat in here. What gives?" She asks and I guess she's return back to her usual self, while munching on the sandwich.

"I don't eat meat. It makes me sick," I reply.

"Man you sure are weird, nothing wrong with it though you know what I mean?" I pick up my shirt, I could see in the corner of my eye that she was still looking at me attentively. I can't help but laugh as I find my bag and stuff the shirt inside.

"Me weird? What about you picking through other people's stuff?" I accuse; she shrugs at my allegation and says nothing more about our little confrontation as we gather our belongings and head away from Divine Dragon Falls.

* * *

We retraced our steps heading back to the route, before going South, night had fallen by then making it hard to see where we might be going. Lucy didn't seem worry at all to the slightest. she simply hums to herself some strange tune, when…

"Hey look at that," I say rushing in front of her. I point to the strange blinking lighting in the distance. "Do you hear that? Music? It's a bit faint?"

"Yeah it does sound like it. It's coming from over there," she says as I ran ahead of her this time. Lucy catches up with me eventually by what looks to be an entrance, "This is it. Arni. From the looks of it, I think they're having a celebration." I say catching my breath.

"All right Party!" She cheers and runs into the crowds before I can stop her. I groan and try to follow after her but lose sight of her due to the large crowds of villagers. With all these people here I end up bumping into someone, a boy that by my guess was about the same age as Lucy. I try to apologize but when he looks at me, he gives me an odd look then gasps, stuttering incomprehensively before scurrying away. This left me confused. Some people had turn to look at me, they gave me odd stares and seem to point and say things I couldn't quite make out.

"Len!" Lucy finally shows up after a few minutes, "I found him."

"Really? Where?" Diverted, I turn away from the other villagers, likewise some of them do the same.

"One of the folks here says he's down by the pier. Apparently it's his birthday or something. C'mon over here," she says as she tugs me by the arm and practically drags me along with her as we sweep past the multitude of people. I don't know what to say. I'm too distracted with trying to keep up with Lucy as she drags me along the wooden planks, that I don't have the time to think up something to say.

What would I say to Serge when I see him? How could he help me?

We stop only a couple of feet away when we spot two individuals, a girl and the one I assumed was Serge. Odd, I would have expected him to be older or something, It reminds me of my encounter with Dario, and I realize that maybe I was judging too early. Besides it was hard to tell anyway when he had his back turned and the only light available was coming from the moons.

They're both standing at the edge of the pier; the girl is leaning against Serge while speaking to him. We don't intend on listening, but our presence is practically unnoticed and Lucy comments to me on how much of a good show they were putting on, and how much she wishes she had some popcorn with her right now. I was about to ask her what popcorn was, but then the girl spoke.

"Why won't you tell me what's bothering you?"

I hear Serge sigh, "You wouldn't understand Leena, it's too complicated." The way he speaks I don't know how to explain it, but there is something familiar about it. I can't quite put my finger to it where I had heard it before.

I turn to look at Lucy and she too has a look as if thinking the same thing. She sees me looking and quickly nudges me at my ribs again.

"Well?" she whispers.

I wince. "Ow…I'm going to, just give me a sec," I say as I take a step ahead of her in case she tries once more. I clear my throat and try to get their attention. "Err… Hello?"

The girl, Leena, is the first to turn around and catch a glimpse of us. She looks at me more than she does Lucy before turning wide-eyed; again I feel reminded of the time that other kid reacted similarly.

"... S-S-Serge?" She seems to say. Now Serge turns around and I now know why the girl Leena had acted the way she did. I step closer and so does Serge. I study him closer, I believe he does the same, his blue eyes never left sight of me as he stares at me in disbelief?

Serge's probably the same age as I, a young man with blue shorts, a chain mail vest tied over a black shirt. He has a belt around his waist, and a red bandana over his head. It was over his blue hair, blue hair that was short but the same color as mines. Serge seems taken aback, I was too.

He looks just like me!

Leena appears hysterical as she glances back and forth between the two of us. "He… you… look…" she points at me, but before she could finish she fainted.

"Leena!" Serge averts his attention away from me to help the girl up.

"I-I," turning back to Lucy, she merely shrugs not knowing what to say.

"What's going on?" Another voice calls out.

"Chief Radius?" Serge says, and I recognize the name. He was the man Dario spoke to me about. The old man walked towards us holding a staff at his side, "What's all this ruckus about? I heard that we have some guests that headed this…"

I see him staring at Lucy for a split second then at me. "YOU!" he hisses. I stare at him confused.

"Fiend! What did you do to the girl!" He demands, and to my surprise, he draws out a thin blade from within his staff **(2).**

I take a step back careful not to fall, "I haven't done anything wrong, she just fainted," I reply in a panic.

"That's right old man. We haven't done anything wrong to anyone," Lucy adds coming to my defense even if she was a mere couple of feet away from me.

"SILENCE!" Was all it takes for Lucy to tense up and keep quiet.

"Serge, take Leena home, I'll deal with this scoundrel," he approaches and raises the blade up to my chest. Serge nods and does his best to get Leena away from us. He doesn't even bother looking back at me this time and keeps walking.

"Wait! Serge I..." Sir Radius stops me from taking another step towards Serge by pointing the blade at my neck. I can feel the cold steel pricking at my skin, one false move and it's over for me.

"HEY! We told you we didn't do anything!" Lucy continues to yell, but it doesn't help at all. I stay silent in fear of what he would do. We finally arrive in Arni and already I'm in trouble; worst thing of all is that I don't know why.

**

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To Be Continued

Whooo! Longest chapter so far, and it took me forever to revise (it's up to 20 pages now, well more like 19 and a half, but my word processor counts this page as Page 20 so myeh), but I'm done and I'm so happy the way it turned out.

**1)** Can anyone guess where the passage came from? I'll give you a hint it came from a game. If you're a really big fan of Chrono Cross (and Chrono Trigger) then you definitely must have heard of (or even played) this game as well (considering I mentioned it back in chapter 2... Oops too much information)

**2) **I know I know, Radius doesn't have a weapon like that, but I thought it would be kinda cool if he did (at least for this story). The idea itself was inspired by an episode of The Simpsons where that Rainier Wolf castle (McBain) is selling his stuff and he has all these different swords, (sword swordshapener, and sword pie were the funniest).


	5. Chapter 5 All Roads Lead to Nowhere

**AN: **You know before I deleted this story I had over 1000 hits, I was kinda happy about that. I mean sure they're not reviews but still. Now that I've posted this all over I only have like 100?** T_T**

Anyway, Len's finally made it to Arni and things didn't quite turn out as he expected. What's gonna happen next? What's going to happen when he meets Leena again? Heck what's going to happen when he meets Serge? Will he find out anything from him? Or will he end up getting himself killed?

Oh and uh thanx to _**TaniLights**_ for reviewing all four previous chapters. I was kinda happy (I'm usually not) so uh **-explodes-**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Chrono Cross, I only own the OCs and this idea.

**Code Thingy  
**"Speaking"  
_'Thinking'  
__**Words that express some meaning  
**_**ELEMENT/Tech  
**_--Flashback--_

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**Chapter 5: All Roads Lead to Nowhere  
**Yesterday had not turned out so well for the teen and his companion; Len had hoped on at least getting a chance to talk to Serge. Unfortunately the old man whom he assumed was Sir Radius had made it clear that he didn't want the evening spoiled by his presence. They were to stay in a room and basically forbidden from leaving until the party ended or else face the consequences. What those consequences were, they didn't want to find out. Len didn't understand why they were acting that way towards him (he had just gotten there and everything just spun out of control), but figured that he would get some answers the following day that is if Sir Radius didn't kill him in his sleep (a belief that had been spurred by Lucy's sudden paranoia). The two of them were to stay at the village inn for the night before they could settle things the following morning.

Len was sound asleep for the last couple of hours; he and Lucy were actually lucky enough to find a place to spend the night while they were in Arni. Currently, he was unaware that he was being watched, the teen didn't even bother shuddering when someone pulled the blanket he had off of him. It was a bit cold at the moment, but even that failed to make a difference.

"It's no use, this guy is out like a log," said a boy who had yanked the blanket off of him, it was Lolo. The boy sighs and shakes his head before looking to his friends. There were at least three kids there other than Lolo and they were all standing by as they stared at a sleeping blue haired teenager.

"You haven't tried hard enough," another boy responds as he reaches out and begins to poke the teen in the face, namely his cheeks with a stick. To their amazement, Len doesn't respond to this action one bit as he keeps on resting.

"Maybe we can have Poshul jump on him," a third boy suggests helpfully, he was heading to the door ready to retrieve the wonder dog.

"Wouldn't she crush him though?" This time a girl spoke concerned, the other kids shrugged indifferently. The boy who was holding the twig kept poking the blue haired teen just for the fun of it.

"Definitely not like Serge though, is he?" the girl continues to speak while trying to get a closer look but was startled by the door to that room suddenly flung open narrowly avoiding the boy as a young girl with short lavender hair walked in. It was Lucy, and she was dragging a bucket full of what appeared to be water, she heaved the bucket onto a table nearby before walking up to the other kids.

"Any luck?" she asks, all four children shake their heads. Lucy approached her friend, poking him a few times with her finger, and just like before, Len did nothing about it. He didn't even try to swat her hand away or make a noise of discomfort. Lucy glared at the teen and decided to reach forward and pull Len's eyelids open.

_'Yeah that should work__.__' _she thought to herself.

Instead, she was greeted with the whites of his eyes. His eyes were rolled up all the way, that the iris wasn't even visible at all. As if responding to her actions, they rolled down and she saw his eyes, unusual as they were, staring at her. The pupils were the size of pinpoints. Without warning, the pupils dilated until there was only a thin ring of color in the irises prior to rolling back up again leaving nothing but white once more. Lucy shudderd that she was forced to let go realizing just how creepy it was.

Just for that brief moment of eye contact, she could have sworn that he was looking right at her. It wasn't the vacant, unfocused staring of someone who was still sleeping like she would see on her friends back home when she wanted to annoy them. If anything, they usually woke up right after, but Len didn't respond to her actions at all and just kept on sleeping.

If he really was sleeping.

"The _**Other Serge**_ won't wake up and we've tried everything," the girl says, distracting Lucy from her thoughts.

"Except using Poshul," the boy points out, the girl turns and glares at him.

"Let me try then. Len, hey Len," she says in a singsong voice as she gently shakes her friend by the shoulder to no effect. "Lynn," she jokes and shakes him a bit harder, but again fails to make a difference.

"Lynx! Len! You got to be kidding me! C'mon, wake up already!" Lucy began to shake him violently that it almost looked as if the teen were convulsing. When that failed, she began slapping him a few times hoping that would do that trick. She whines in frustration when that also failed. Lucy made a face and stomps her foot in anger when Len did not wake up. Either he was in a really deep sleep or he was dead, Lucy was having a hard time deciding which. She glanced at the bucket that she had brought with her. This would sure wake him up, and maybe get him angry all the same.

_'Oh well he was asking for it.' _Lucy thought, she goes to the table and makes a grab for the bucket.

"Step back kiddies, this is gonna get messy," she warns, and immediately the other children stepped back but continue watching eager to see what would happen. Holding the bucket up, Lucy unceremoniously pours its contents all over the teen, aiming more towards the upper body.

After a second, he wakes feeling the cold sensation of water hitting his face. His eyes shoot open in shock as the teen coughs and gasps when traces of water entered his mouth and nose going the wrong way. Len turns around frantically in confusion wondering what was going on.

"Whattaba... ger... un?" He manages to sputter incomprehensibly between coughs.

His mind was too disoriented to figure out what was going on at the moment. His eyes were half closed and he wasn't really focusing on anything in particular when he rolled right off of his bed. Len lands stomach first on the mat beside his bed with a soft thud. The sounds of roaring laughter and giggling rang in his ears but Len isn't quite sure where they are coming from while he struggles to get back up. As he does, he is struck in the face with a towel, clouding his sight even further before he could do anything else.

"Wuah!" Len cries out and stumbles falling back onto his bed. He continues coughing every couple of seconds even after removing the towel from his face. For a moment he thought he heard the sounds of people giggling, and "eeping" before someone said, "Get outta here." This was eventually followed by what sounded like people running past him and a door being slam shut. Even when he had removed the towel from his face, all Len could see was a blurry haze, he was unable to discern what was really going on. However, he did notice a light purple blur pass by, and the first thing that came to mind was that that Lucy was here as well. But he contemplated why Lucy was among those who were running, he wondered what she was doing here, if she had any involvement into what happened to him just now or if there was someone else who had the same hair color as his friend.

Len sat up and rubbed his cheeks wondering why they felt a bit sore all of a sudden while he looked around.

'_What__'__s going on?__' _he thinks to himself as he rubs his eyes momentarily. He looks down at his clothes finally realizing that he was nearly soaked from his head to his waist in water. Half of the light blue pajamas he was wearing were clinging to his body and his hair almost plastered to his face. Taking a few deep breaths, Len finally calmed down and thought over the previous events.

He had a rather rude awakening, fell off his bed, people laughed, and then ran away, one of them may have been his friend or maybe not, and it was suddenly cold, really cold. He was fully awake but still a bit confused and thinking about it didn't help much at all, and he was cold. Since he was up so he might as well get dressed already before anything else happened, like say another surprise attack. Len stood up and slowly walked over to where he had last left his clothes the previous night. Thankfully, they were still folded neatly a top a dresser (he was a afraid for a moment that they might have been stolen), he scratches his cheek for a moment before he picks up his clothes and promptly looks towards a mirror that was stationed nearby. Len walked over to it as he unbuttoned his pajama shirt, he shivered while staring at his own reflection.

He still couldn't believe that there was someone out there who looked just like him.

Len removed his shirt and continued to stare at his reflection but then shifted his position to get a better view of his now exposed back. Len turned his neck while he struggled slightly to run his fingers through his very lightly tanned skin, momentarily tracing over a rather wicked looking scar that ran diagonally starting from his left shoulder blade all the way across to the lower right side of his back. He had several other scars all over his body, the most noticeable being the one on the side of his neck close to his collarbone. He could only assume that he must have gotten them prior to his memory loss. Len didn't really want to know how it happened (he could only imagine that it must have been very brutal), he wondered who might have done this to him and why. Did he do something wrong to deserve this? Was he in a fight and lost?

Or was it just some crazy freak accident as Esmeld had assumed?

Yet, what bothered Len the most were the weird bruises that surrounded the scar, an oddity because the wound had long since healed but the discoloration remained and it didn't hurt at all. What was most unusual, was that sometimes the markings would disappear one day but then reappear and spread out a couple days later.

_'No wonder Lucy freaked out,' _he thought, the discoloration had returned taking a horrible dark blue-ish purple color all over his back.

"If only I could remember," Len says preoccupied that this was a sign for something bad. It wasn't just his back. Sometimes, even the slightest scratch anywhere on his body was enough to cause the strange discoloration to appear, he had learned to be careful avoiding things that could cause injury.

Not careful enough it seems.

He looked to his arm, the one he had injured the day before, wondering if he took off the bandages, would the bruises be present as well. He remembered the burning sensation he had been feeling yesterday, and shuddered knowing that it was a sure sign (he had learned this weeks earlier in Marbule) and if that was the case, then there was going to be some serious discoloration on his arm later on.

Sighing, he walks away and resumed to getting dressed. A few minutes later, he comes out fully clothed in his dark brown trousers and short sleeved light brown tunic that reached down to his thighs, Len also had a brownish-green belt wrapped around his waist to keep his shirt down. He sat down on the steps by the hut that he had slept in and takes a deep breath. Wincing slightly at the sudden sharp pain he feels above, he raises his hand close to his forehead.

"Not now," he starts rubbing his temples hoping to lessen the throbbing feeling in his head. Len wasn't quite sure what caused the headaches, but he knew that it couldn't have been because of the fall he had earlier, though it might have jumpstarted it, making things worse. He would typically experience these headaches about 20 minutes after waking up. Back in Marbule when the headaches struck, it got so bad that at one point or another he'd just end up passing out from them, which wasn't good since he was just barely beginning to recover from all of his injuries.

But nowadays, they didn't occur very often anymore, maybe only once a week (though once he went on for nearly two weeks without one). He was grateful for that, considering that he worried about the possibility of losing consciousness while in the middle of a conversation (which he had). He continues to rub his temples waiting it out for a few more seconds and for the most part it works a little to relieve the pain, but as he did, his blue bangs poked him in the eye.

"Ow." He rubbed his right eye irritated once more, worrying more about being poked in the eye than the headache that was beginning to lessen. Len reached into his pocket and pulls out a red bandana glancing at the yellow designs, he folds and ties it around his forehead causing his bangs to push up slightly so they would no longer poke him in the eye. He then ruffles the rest of his blue hair, which in turn causes it to spike up a bit just the way he liked it.

"Where could she be?" Len mutters curious to know where Lucy had gone. He wanted to have a talk with her. He stood up and looked around hoping to spot her right away. When he couldn't spot her, he started walking around, it shouldn't be that hard to find her, right?

Though the way things were at the moment made Len wish it were still nighttime, at least then people wouldn't keep staring at him as he walked by, some even stepped away from him as if he were someone to stay away from. At one point or another he thought he had heard some of the villagers saying things like "_**Other Serge**_" or even "_**Wazuki**_". Len wasn't sure what the latter had to do with anything or what it meant, but he understood why people would refer to him as the other Serge. After all it's not everyday that he shows up in someone's village looking like one of their own.

Len tried his best to ignore their gazes but every time he looked away he just ended up starring directly at someone else who was also gazing at him. It was enough to make him really uncomfortable that he makes haste towards the only place he was familiar with. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going that he ends up bumping into someone, it was the girl from the night before.

Leena gasps at the sight of the teen that she drops the basket of clothes she was holding on to. "Oh my…you're…you're…" startled by the mere sight of him, Leena couldn't finish her sentence as she stares at the strange blue haired teen. The last person she could recall seeing the previous night when she fainted, or was it Serge? She thought that she had dreamed the whole encounter, but here he was standing in front of her. Leena realizes that she dropped the basket, and quickly bends down to pick up the articles of clothing. To her surprise, and embarrassment, the teen too gets down on his knees and begins to help her out, "I'm so sorry Miss, I wasn't looking…I…err… here let me help you." he stammers as he grabs a pair of shorts and places them in the basket.

"No it's okay I got it," Leena replies at first averting her eyes and snatching back the pair of mismatched socks that he had just grabbed hold of.

"I insist… Uh… " he says, Leena came to a pause and stares at the boy. She couldn't help but suddenly become enthralled by the teen's appearance, down to even his voice. For a moment it was as if she were staring right at her childhood friend, it was definitely remarkable yet creepy.

'_My gosh, someone could have surely mistaken this guy for Serge__'__s twin for sure,_' She thought, and that would seem to be the case but as Leena continued to stare at the teen, the first thing she notices was that there was something unusual about his eyes. From a distance you wouldn't be able to tell the difference but up close they were not the same in color. His right eye was a cerulean blue exactly like Serge's, but the left one was actually shades darker with a bluish-purple color to it. Her sight trails upwards noticing that his hair was definitely longer and maybe a tint darker in some parts. Looking down back at his face she sees that his skin was light, barely tanned especially when compared to Serge's. A little further down, and she sees a scar around the side of his neck.

An awkward silence came between the two as a few more seconds passed by, Len began to feel uncomfortable with all this staring; he never did like it when people stared at him for too long like they were sizing him up or something. He faked a cough and caused the girl to snap back to reality; she regains her composure suddenly remembering that he had said something, _'what was it?'_

"Oh um…" she couldn't come up with anything to say as she averts her eyes once more. She witnesses the teen stand up but not before he hands her the last of her clothes.

"Here you go," he says.

"...Thank you."

"I Err... I guess I should say sorry for what happened the other night," he suddenly expresses apologetically. Leena would have said something, but again came up with nothing as the boy continued.

"I should get going, it was nice meeting you Miss... gotta find out where my friend went."

Leena looked up, "Oh, you mean that weird girl? Wearing black, has short lavender hair?"

"Yeah that's her alright. By chance have you seen her?" he asks. Forgetting how strange it was to talk to him, and figuring that it would be polite to answer she replies, "Well, yes she ran by not long ago before you showed up, did something bad happen?"

"Err... Why do you ask?" the teen runs his fingers over his slightly damp hair.

"Well I saw your friend dragging a bucket full of water not long ago. It seemed that she was headed somewhere, but from the way you keep touching your hair, I can only guess that you were her intended target?" Leena answers. He realizes what he was doing and stops.

"Yeah she kinda got me, I was still sleeping," he couldn't help but go red, embarrassed for a moment.

"So that finally got you going, didn't it?" Leena stood up and walked towards her house, no sooner did the teen follow after her.

"Huh? What do you mean?" he inquires keeping up with her pace while glancing left and right every few seconds.

"I overheard Serge talking to your friend, I think that was a little more than half an hour ago. He seemed eager to talk to you but like you said you were still sleeping," she shrugs.

"So, then where is he now?" he paused in front of Leena's home earning a few stares as she entered and sat the basket on a table.

"He left to take a walk to Cape Howl a few minutes ago. Serge goes there almost everyday, so he won't be back for right away," she calls out since the teen was still outside.

"Cape Howl?" Len mutters to himself, that name wasn't on Dario's map, so he didn't have the slightest clue where or what it was but he felt compelled to ask. Resisting the compulsion, the teen sighs. "Well that's just great, I had to wait for today just to talk to him and I blow it by oversleeping," he groans cursing his crappy luck.

"Oh don't worry about it, he'll be back before you know it. Besides it's really dangerous out there with the Beachbums and monsters out there. If you decide to go, you should at least be prepared with some sort of weapon to defend yourself with or at least carry some elements with you," Leena suggests helpfully walking back.

"Sir Radius took my sword and all of my possessions as well. I guess I have no choice but to wait for him then." He says leaning against the wall glancing at Leena momentarily who was standing by the doorway.

"Well since you're waiting… if you want to… I mean…I could show you around…That is if you don't mind," suggests Leena even though she was still a bit wary towards the other teen, it was still polite to offer.

"Um... I... Sure …I don't mind, I mean," he stammers at first but then nods.

"By the way, you haven't told me your name," said Leena, as she realized that she still didn't know his name.

"Err... Well it's Lynx..."

* * *

-- _"__I'll find a way Kid, even if it takes forever I will find my way to the other world, and __I'll__ come back and get you, I promise.__"__ --_

Serge gazed into the open sea. He spots a few seagulls flying through the clouds; the young man sat at the edge of the cliff, a slight ocean breeze swept past him. He was holding his Sea Swallow in one hand and a red hair band in the other, he held the item in his gloved hand as he remembered what she had told him.

_--__"__Something for you to remember me by just in case. But if ya do ever get back then I expect this back, ya hear?__"__--_

Having crossed through two worlds, Serge learned things, witness places and events that most people would never even dream of. Whether it was a diabolical Demi-human out for his blood (or to be exact, his body), being used by ancient Dragon Gods who conspired against the human race, being chosen by the Frozen Flame, the fragment of an alien being as its arbiter when he was just a toddler, or fighting said alien to save a princess who had been trapped within the creature. Really he had gotten used to these strange things that he thought that nothing could ever surprise him, ever again.

But boy was he wrong on that one.

It had been a year ago that Lynx had switched bodies with him ultimately stealing it just so that he could release the lock that had been placed on the Frozen Flame when Serge had come in contact with the Flame. After fighting his way through the Dragon Gods just so he could get the Dragon Tear and eventually be reborn in his original form, Serge and his friends made their way to Chronopolis to confront and stop Lynx.

It was then that the former Demi-human revealed to them that he too was FATE, a supercomputer from the year 2400 A.D. that had been sent back 10,000 years into the past, and had ordered the creation of all of El Nido. Lynx merged himself with FATE instigating another fight against Serge and his friends in an attempt to eliminate them all in order to keep the Frozen Flame in FATE's possession. Lynx failed. Having lost the battle, Lynx had ultimately perished along with the AI.

Or so Serge had thought.

A year had passed since the events that occurred during his adventure, just like Schala had said, no one remembered what happened (with the exception of Chief Radius who had apparently chosen to retain his memories). Things had gotten back to normal or at least close to normal, yet here was Lynx walking into Arni Village, Serge's home, as if nothing had happened. It was out of the ordinary that Lynx would show up on Serge's birthday accompanied by a young girl he had never even seen before. What bothered Serge the most was the look on Lynx's face when they finally met again, surprised, shock, in complete disbelief.

He had expected the former Demi-human to start wreaking havoc, but that wasn't the case. Instead Lynx seemed completely stunned just as he had been when they met face-to-face the previous night, almost as if he had come here not expecting to find someone else looking like him. The way Lynx acted, the way he talked when he tried to get his attention when he was taking Leena home, it seemed not like him whatsoever. Especially after Radius told him to stay put in a room, Lynx didn't put up so much as a fight and obeyed.

It was just odd. The more he thought about it, the more Serge wondered on the possibility that it wasn't Lynx who he had seen yesterday, but someone else altogether.

"_No, that's__ impossible,__' _he thought shaking his head uncertainly. _'T__here__'s__ only one __**Serge**__.__'_Even with there being two parallel dimensions, his other world counterpart had died 11 years ago after drowning in Opassa Beach, ruling out the possibility that it was his other self who had showed up yesterday. That could only mean a few possibilities:

1.) This _**Other Serge **_was either another version of him from a different world that wasn't _**Home **_or _**Another**_(as he and his friends had come to refer to their worlds) and somehow he managed to cross over into this dimension whether intentionally or accidentally. In his confusion, he probably headed to Arni village hoping that maybe this was all a dream (just as he had when he first crossed over).

Or

2.) He isn't an alternate counterpart, he's really Lynx. Maybe the fact that FATE had been destroyed may be contributing to his unusual behavior. But then again, that still that didn't explain how it was that he managed to survive, when he saw him die. Lynx, who long ago used to be his father, Wazuki.

* * *

Serge had been bitten by a panther demon when he was just three years old; his father Wazuki found him and spared no efforts to save the boy. The doctors in Arni, Termina, and Guldove couldn't provide a way to treat and cure the child, but Wazuki was unwilling to give up on his son and made a risky decision to set sail towards Marbule in hopes that the witch doctor there could heal Serge from his wounds. Wazuki, and Leena's father Miguel, set out with Serge towards Marbule unaware that they would soon get caught in a terrible storm that would have killed them. However, they were lucky, and well skilled in navigating a boat that they managed to find land, but they wondered just where was it that they had reached.

It certainly wasn't Marbule or any other island that they were familiar with, but somewhere else, they found themselves in Chronopolis.

Serge didn't quite remember the events that happened the night of the storm 15 years ago. He had been told that upon coming in contact with the Frozen Flame his body was healed from the toxic effects of the poison. But that wasn't all; from then on he was the only one who could ever access the Flame.

FATE had been temporarily shut down due to a magnetic storm, which occurred when they were out at sea. It was because of this, that Serge was able to get his hands on the Flame in the first place. The Flame saved Serge, but in the process he had lost his father. The Flame caused Wazuki to become unstable; the thought of serge dying in his hands ultimately caused him to lose his mind. When FATE came back online and discovered the intruders, it learned of Serge how only he had access to the Flame now. Wazuki's sanity was weakened because of the Frozen Flame, and FATE having discovered his condition attempted to take control of what was left of the young father. Despite FATE's efforts to control on the man, Wazuki was able to escape with a fully cured Serge. Miguel was nowhere in sight, the young man didn't bother looking for his friend and departed from Chronopolis with his son.

Serge had ended up learning from his mother a year ago that Wazuki had returned to Arni but had given no answers to where he was or what happened to Miguel. According to Marge, Wazuki seemed not like himself whatsoever after that. Later, Serge learned from the other villagers that after Wazuki came back to Arni, the young father suddenly left again for several days without warning. He never told them where he had gone or what he was doing and that secret had apparently died with him after FATE turned him.

It was that day 11 years ago when he nearly drowned in Opassa Beach that his father left for good and never came back. Wazuki had gone to Chronopolis where he would later became the fearsome Demi-human that came to be known as Lynx.

But now, Serge didn't know what to think, he was sure that he had seen Lynx die. He remembered destroying FATE with the help of his companions who had made the journey to Chronopolis along with him. Yet Lynx was back, there was no doubt about it. Serge wanted to know why did Lynx chose to come here? Why now? Was it possible that with FATE gone now, Lynx had returned back to his original self as Wazuki? Yet that still wouldn't really explain the way Lynx reacted when he saw him. If he was Wazuki, then shouldn't he have recognized him as his son?

More importantly Serge wondered how did Lynx get here in the first place when he had last seen the former Demi-human in Chronopolis, the futuristic city that only existed in Another World? Serge recalled that Schala had sealed off the distortions so that nothing could cross over. Did the distortions open up? Or was Lynx in his Home World the entire time since the sealing? Serge wasn't sure what to think about this situation anymore. Sighing, he turned around and decided to head back to Arni, by now Lynx should be awake and wondering where he was, or probably causing trouble. There was no point in delaying this any longer.

* * *

"Lynx? That's your name?" Leena asks perplexed, they both had made it back to the piers and continued their little chat.

"Yeah why?" Len replies as he stares a the open sea.

"It's certainly the strangest name I've ever met a person go by," said Leena as she looked to the blue haired teen who for some reason had his arms outstretched, feeling the cool ocean breeze. He turned around and Leena noticed that he was grinning a bit as if it were amusing to him.

"Heh, yeah. I hear that a lot when I tell people. But if you like, you can call me Len instead. Miss," he said.

"Oh please, don't call me Miss. Just Leena will do," said Leena waving her hand dismissively.

"Okay then, Leena," said Len saying her name with much enthusiasm. He lowered both arms though not before he started scratching one of them. "So," he said taking a quick glance around, "This place is really nice, what's it like here?" He asked the first thing that came to mind.

"I wouldn't say nice, but um...it's okay I guess," she shrugged, "we're just a bunch of simple folk that live in a fisherman village. It's really nothing grand, I should be asking you," she giggled at the quizzical expression that Len suddenly made as if trying to figure something out. "I'm sure it's probably more interesting than here."

"Me?"

Leena smiled, "Yes you."

But before he could respond he was struck in the face with water. Both Leena and Len gasped in unison before the girl looked in the direction it had come from. There were two boys swimming, the ones she usually babysat, swimming around and looking at Len dangerously. Len was looking at his shirt that was slightly soaked from the top.

"Hey you! Just so you know that's Sergie's girl. So you better keep your grubby hands off of Leena, or you'll be sorry." One of them said pointing an accusing finger at Len.

"What no! I wouldn't do that! Honest!" Len stammers apologetically, before stepping away from Leena as emphasis. Leena frowned and looked to the boys, her hands at her hips as she stared at them disappointedly.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to give him a fright?"

"No we were just telling him that-" the first boy, the one who threw the water says but Leena cuts him off.

"I can take care of myself, and throwing water? That's not very nice. Honestly you two, I am going to have to tell your mother about this."

"Aw c'mon Leena we didn't mean it like that, we're sorry," says the second boy.

"Yeah Leena, you don't have to tell on them. See there's no harm done, it's just a little water, it will dry off," Len adds defending the boys, much to their confusion.

"But..."

"It's fine, really, they said they're sorry, and the apology is accepted, right. So err problem solved, there's no need to call someone else so it's okay," he says, Leena detects a bit of panic in his voice as if he were afraid.

_'What could he possible be afraid of?'_ Leena thought; _'Chief Radius?' _Of course that would make no sense unless the village chief had done something to him after she had fainted. If so, then she'd hate to be responsible if anything else happened on her part so she tries to put Len at ease by agreeing with him.

"Yeah I guess you're right." She turns and looks at the two boys. "And you two, you should be grateful to Len that I'm not telling your mom."

"There's no need Leena, after all it was my fault." Len replies.

_'His fault, what is he talking about? Surely he doesn't believe...' _She stares at Len who was starting to look around anxiously. The boys had swam away muttering things.

"Anyway," Leena says, changing the subject catching the teen's attention, "I doubt Serge is going to show up anytime soon, so how about we go for a walk. I could show you what else Arni has to offer, and I'm sure we'll probably find your friend along the way," she suggested.

"Err, maybe we could just wait here a little longer," the teen answered.

"You'd want to wait here?"

"I guess you have a point," Len says after he scratches his head in contemplation.

"C'mon, how about we go get something to eat then?" She asks, Len thinks about that for a moment, he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday noon and he was starting to feel a bit hungry.

"But I don't have any money to pay," he responds rummaging through his pockets and coming up empty as emphasis. Leena assumed that he must have left his money with the rest of his belongings.

"I'll pay for it then," she insists taking out a pouch that was in her side pocket.

"Really you don't have to do this."

"It's no problem," said Leena, Len looked hesitantly over to the other villagers on the other side.

"I might get in trouble," he mutters. She could tell that the teen was nervous about going out in the middle of the village together, he must have thought that he was going to give everyone the wrong impression. She sort of understood how that felt; here she was standing alongside a complete stranger who practically looked like her childhood friend. Sure she liked Serge, but it became clear not long ago that he wasn't quite interested in her.

"Oh don't tell me you believe that? Look Serge and I are close friends, but I am not his girl," she says. But she did wonder a little about what people would probably say if they saw them together. Heck, what would Serge say if he found them together? Would he be okay with it? Or would he get jealous?

_'What am I thinking? Serge would never do that. And if he did, it isn't like I'm doing anything wrong with Len, right? I mean I'm just showing him around while we wait for Serge to get back, there's no harm in that__.__'_ Leena thinks to herself reassuringly. She gave him a quick pat on the shoulder, "don't worry about them. They'll just look at you because you're a new face... Well you're not...but um you got the point," she said and decided to drop the subject as she waited for Len to at least say something.

"Okay then," Len said finally after thinking it over for a second or two. Leena smiles and claps her hands with joy before she grabs the teen by the arm and drags him away from the piers and into a local restaurant known as Belcha's Kitchen. They make their way in and Leena tells the teen to take a seat by an empty table that was in the farthest corner of the restaurant. Len obeyed and walked over to said table, "This one?" he points just to be sure, to which Leena nods. Len sat and waited for the girl to return; he began to look around and see that there were less people here, and none of them were paying attention to him, they were too busy enjoying their meals or talking amongst themselves. Which was good right now.

He always felt odd when people stared at him too long, He wondered what they were thinking when they stared. Was it his eyes? Did they think they were creepy just because the colors were mismatched? Or was it his hair? During his time in Marbule, he had never encountered someone with blue hair. Some of the Demi-humans even thought that it had been dyed that way as part of some crazy mainlander fad from where they thought he might be from, (his friend Vincent had even wagered a bet about it) but after a few weeks they were proven wrong when the color remained the same as his hair grew longer. Would Leena end up asking him questions about his appearance? Heck, he didn't know either, he was just as curious to know the answer. Sighing in frustration, he turned his attention to the oil lamp that was at the center of the table.

Len still had to figure out what he was going to tell Serge when they finally met, again. He hadn't really put much thought into what he would say, and the confrontation yesterday in a way gave him some more time to think about it. He figured maybe he could mention the Sage, seeing as he had a hand in this and work his way up from that. The teen continued to stare at the oil lamp, mesmerized by the tiny flame burning in the center that he failed to notice Leena appear five minutes later holding up a tray in her hands. She placed the tray on the table and started distributing the items while watching Len who seemed to be in his own little world. Leena snapped her fingers a few times in front of Len catching his attention.

"Oh Leena, that was quick," says the teen blinking a few times.

"Did I interrupt you?"

"Oh err no, it's okay I was just thinking. This looks delicious," Len stammers before studying the contents that were on the bowl. It looked like a vegetable stew of some sort as far as he could tell, but he wasn't really sure.

She watched him lean closer and start sniffing at the food. Oddly enough, it reminded Leena of when she tried to put Poshul on a diet (she was getting too big that a new doghouse had to be made because she couldn't get through the door of her old one anymore). Every time she laid a meal in front of the wonder dog, Poshul would sniff at it thinking her favorite foods were in it, yet finding none. The dog would grudgingly eat what she was served, but she didn't seem to be losing any weight (on the contrary Poshul gained even more) and Leena had the faintest suspicion that Una was giving her junk and Heckram bones behind her back.

As odd as it was to watch a human being do the same, she couldn't help but find the act to be a little cute that she started giggling. Len responded by pulling away and blushing a bit, embarrassed. He had made it a habit to sniff at his food, when it was something that he had never eaten before.

"What were you thinking about?" Leena asked curiously as she sat down.

"About yesterday," he replies grateful that she didn't ask him about just now. Leena turned red remembering that she had fainted. Len looks at her for a moment realizing what he said before adding, "Well I mean… Err… I didn't expect things to turn so bad. When I came here looking for Serge, I thought he was you know an old man or someone different.... I never imagined that I would end up meeting someone that..."

"Looks like you?" Len nods, "Exactly," he says as he begins to eat.

"So you're looking for Serge? But why? What brings you to Arni in the first place anyway?" Leena asked.

"Well I...err... I guess you can say that I'm traveling around, you know here and there. I'm originally from Porre by the way," he responds, to which Leena quirks an eyebrow. He figured he'd stick with the lie. At least then if Leena asked Lucy she would back up his story.

"Anyway, err I've been having some err… personal problems for a while now, and uh while I was in Marbule, a friend mentioned Serge's name." he says.

"Really?" She replies a little confused by his story, the teen nods quickly. "So then you and that girl, Lucy, right? You're traveling together then?"

"Huh? Oh uh no, no, not at first. I had just gotten from Marbule a couple of days ago, and met Lucy only recently in an orphanage up north from here. Things happened and next thing I know, we're traveling together."

"You mean Tears of the Sun? Now that you mention it, wasn't there supposed to be some sort of celebration and concert featuring the Magical Dreamers?" Leena asks as she looks at the life-sized poster of Miki on the wall that was on the other side of the restaurant.

"Yeah that's the one, Nikki's kinda cool, he taught me how to play the guitar, though I still need to work at it if I ever want to be good at it," he admits.

"You're kidding, right? You're telling me that you met The Nikki? And he gave you guitar lessons?" Len nods. "I just love the Magical Dreamers, I can't believe you've actually met them. Here I am sitting across someone who knows them," she says incredulously making a sour face. Len couldn't help but grin.

"And Miki is so nice. And Yu and Mi, Miki's backup dancers," he shudders before laughing.

"I can't believe I missed them," Leena said suddenly pouting jealously, Len couldn't help but laugh slightly at the face she was making and paid for it when she smacked him in the arm playfully in retribution before joining in and laughing as well.

"Marbule…" She then muttered to herself, but Len managed to overhear.

"Huh? What about it?" Len asked as he paused and scratched his arm for a second. It had been itchy lately ever since he bumped into Leena. It was difficult considering that it was itchy on the same spot where he had been injured the previous day, making it worse when he tried to relieve the irritation.

"Earlier, you mentioned Marbule, right?" she asks and Len nods, distracted for a moment that he nearly forgot about his arm. "And they told you about Serge while you were there? Are you sure you didn't make a mistake and you heard wrong? Maybe it was a Sarge from Guldove?"

Len shakes his head, "No I'm sure. I wasn't told any specifics on what he looked like, just that he lived here." he responds, suddenly wondering if there were such a person named Sarge living in Guldove.

"It's really…odd," she ponders for a moment, "Serge has never been to Marbule, none of us have..." she pauses as if hesitant for a second. "Maybe whoever told you that, must have been playing a trick on you or something," said Leena.

"Why would they do that?" Len asked as he returns to scratching his arm.

"I don't know, I know that Demi-humans out there that are good people, but you never know if there are others out there who'd love to get the chance to play tricks."

"Huh? No I don't think I've ever come across a Demi-human who does things like that. I mean Vincent might, but he plays tricks on everyone so it doesn't really count," Len countered and Leena wondered for a moment who this Vincent was. She doubted that he was a friend of his. "Besides, the Demi-humans I've met have always been kind to me, if it weren't for them I'd probably be de-" he paused and shook his head, knowing he almost let it slip. "Err forget I said that..." He says drifting back to his own thoughts, Leena gives him a quizzical look. She wondered what it was that he was going to say before he changed his mind, certainly it must have been something important. But if it was something private, then maybe it would be best to drop the subject once more. Instead, she notices that he was scratching his arm again.

"It must have been a hard trip for you," she says staring at the bandages. Len looks down at his arm, "Yeah. A Dodo attacked me yesterday on the way here. Rather ferocious too that it ruined my other shirt. Miki's going to kill me if she finds out," he mutters jokingly, which leaves Leena wondering what Miki had to do about Len's shirt.

She shakes the thought away, "you didn't have any elements on you?"

"I did, but I guess they were all useless. Good thing Lucy was there, otherwise I would have been a goner. She knows a lot of things, like how to clean wounds and stuff," he said as he continues to scratch, the bandages were a bit soaked which added to the reason why he couldn't relieve the itch. "It's a little uncomfortable though, can't seem to stop scratching."

"She probably did a bad job. Did she put anything else some healing herbs or ointment, something that you may be allergic to?" Said Leena.

_'Allergic?'_ He wasn't sure if he was allergic to anything. Esmeld had never told him and he'd never experienced any bad reactions to anything except when he ate meat. Though he was sure that that didn't count, or did it? "No nothing. All she used was some alcohol." Len shrugs. "and it stung like crazy."

"Mind if I take a look then?" Leena asks as she reaches her hand out.

"Right now?" Len says looking a little confused.

"I guess right now is not a good time, well when you're done then," she replies realizing that she barely touched her meal.

"Err okay." Len goes on to finish up in a hurry, while Leena finished hers. A few minutes afterwards, he got up and followed Leena back to her home.

* * *

"Wait here," she says as she goes into another room. Len gives a slight nod as she leaves, but decides to a least have a quick look around. He notices that Leena's house had a great view of the pier from where he was standing, and wonders if anyone had been standing here watching what was going on earlier.

_'Probably not,' _he thinks to himself as he turns to see a medium sized house that had a sign on it. Curious, he strains his eyes to read the barely legible writing. "This ith my houthe! Enter at own rithk!" He reads aloud with a hint of humor as he wondered who could possibly live in such a house. Len couldn't help but turn around when he heard a strange noise.

"Leena?" he calls out but realizes that Leena hadn't returned just yet, so what was it that he heard? He suddenly felt something pressing against his leg, his eyes slowly trail down and widen when he saw a white cat that had a large patch of black fur, purring and rubbing itself on him. Len paled and remained frozen where he stood before the cat suddenly meowed at him.

Leena quickly made her way back to the living room when she heard Len call out her name. She was about to ask what was wrong, but suddenly came to a stop at the sight before her eyes. Len was practically on top of one of the tables, the table itself wobbling under his weight as he shook and trembled. The teen didn't even notice that Leena was there as he stares at her grandmother's cat with wide fear stricken eyes.

"Len?" Leena calls out, Len eventually turns around and looks to her uttering something incomprehensible before the table gave way under him sending him toppling backwards, crashing towards the ground. Whatever Leena was holding onto came crashing on the floor as well as she rushes to the teen's aid.

"My gosh! Len are you alright?" she says as she tries to help him up, but he wouldn't budge.

"Demon!" He suddenly shouts catching Leena by surprise when he clung to her, "Where'ditgo? Where'dhego?" He repeats, looking around frantically left and right for any signs. Leena looked around as well, "You must have scared it away when you fell," she said when she couldn't spot her grandmother's cat anywhere within her house.

"Noit'souttherewaitingforme...He'souttherewaiting...finishedwhatstarted," Len sputters something she could barely understand as he shakes his head in disagreement; he loosened his grip but still held her hands tightly keeping her close to him.

"I'm pretty sure that it's gone...So can you please let go of my hands now?" But Len refused to let go and instead continues to shake his head though somewhat childishly.

"Len please, you're kind of hurting me." says Leena realizing that his grip on her hands was tightening even more and was starting to get painful.

"Nonono...it'swaitingtostrike...Justlikethelasttime... Pleasedon'tletitcomenearus..."

"But I told you already, it's not here anymore, you scared it away," she insists wincing in pain.

"No! You'reLying! You'realiar yourewithhimtooo!" he hissed, suddenly letting go and pushing her away. He quickly got up on his own two feet and stumbled away, never looking back and nearly tripping as he ran out of her home.

"Len! Wait!" she calls out, getting up and chasing after the teen. She couldn't understand why Len was suddenly acting this way, it didn't take long as she ran out of her house that she found him a couple of feet from her house coughing uncontrollably, and catching everyone's attention.

"Len?" Leena slowly approached Len wondering what was happening to him. The teen didn't reply as he suddenly started throwing up everything he just ate spewing chunks all over the place. Leena covered her mouth resisting the urge to throw up as well as she took a few steps back.

"Yeah, um I think I just lost my appetite," a voice from behind made Leena nearly jump with fright. She turned around and saw the lavender haired girl, Lucy who was standing right behind her and only a few inches next to her was another blue haired teen.

"What about you Serge?" Lucy says as she turns and nudges her elbow at the young man standing next to her. Len slowly turns around, and surely enough Serge was standing right next to his friend with a surprised look on his face.

"Serge?" was the only word he could manage to say before he covered his mouth again, but it does no good as he begins to throw up again.

**

* * *

**

To Be Continued

Blegh, not much of a chapter was it? Just a bunch of small talk between Leena and Len and blah blah blah -**sighs**-. So yeah this came out confusing, even after all that editing I put into this chapter (and adding an extra page's worth of writing) it still came out crappy, or at least this writer thinks so** -****explodes again- X.x**


	6. Chapter 6 Today is not a Good Day

**AN: **It's been ages since I posted anything here. I feel so bad about that. Just blame it all on Facebook… and GaiaOnline, oh and DeviantArt which can be so distracting at times. I really need to stop distracting myself. It's been a long time that I didn't know how to work on this chapter. I had to go back to the previous chapters and read them all over again just to remember what was going on.**:|**

**Disclaimer: **as usual I don't own Chrono Cross, Square-Enix does **:(** but if I had, there would have been a sequel out by now. OCs are all mine though.

**Code Thing:  
**"Speaking"  
_'Thinking'  
__**Words that express some meaning**_**  
ELEMENT/Tech**_**  
**__-Flashback-_

**Chapter 6: Today is not a Good Day  
**I felt the wretched yet familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach, as everything I ate earlier seems to come rushing out and splattering on the floor. I couldn't stop as I heaved and coughed, and no one dared to approach me. They probably worried that I might start throwing up again, worse on them if they did. After a while I stop heaving, but the nauseating feeling doesn't seem to go away, and I start feeling a bit lightheaded that I sway and collide against whatever it was that was keeping me standing. My legs suddenly feel a little weak and wobbly that the next instant I'm falling to my knees, but something stops me.

"I got ya," I hear Lucy say and I realize that she has her arms around my waist. "Boy, you're heavy," she says afterwards grunting a bit while helping me back on my own two feet. I force myself to stand, feeling a little better now, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. Back at Marbule, it never got this bad. I slowly turn around seeing Lucy looking a bit disgusted as she tries to wrench me away from the scene in a hurry. I'm somewhat disoriented and I glance around noticing that a small crowd had now formed around us, among them were Serge and Leena who were alternating between looking at me, to looking at each other while saying things that I couldn't quite hear.

"We need to go," Lucy says, snapping me out of my daze as she ushers me back towards Leena's house.

"Wha-"

"No time for questions, just c'mon," she interrupts as she places her hands on my shoulders and starts leading me inside. Once there, Lucy hands me a chair so that I could sit down; I take it gratefully as she brings up another chair and sits down before sighing. "Leena told me to bring you here away from the crowd after well you know, finished," she says. I could tell that she was trying to keep her distance from me, fearing that I hadn't.

"You're done, right? Because I don't want to get in trouble if you go at it again," she said looking left and right before starring at me with a look of concern or at least I think that's what it is.

My mind regains some clarity, "I think I'm done. For now I guess," I answer forcing a weak smile as a means to reassure her, I could still taste the bile in my mouth but there wasn't much I could do about that.

"Good," she says, the expression on her face changing suddenly as she claps her hands together, "now give me your arm," Lucy proceeds to yank my arm forward before I could even say or do anything.

"Ow! Whuh! Ack!" are the only things I manage to say through hisses.

"Oh don't be such a baby we've been through this already," she says with a slight frown as she undoes the knot on my bandages. I was kind of annoyed that she seemed concerned for me a second ago and now disregards my feelings the next. I say noting about it and just watch as she peals the dressings slowly from my arm.

"...Still next time give me a warning before you do, it still hurts you know," I wince every other second as Lucy presses lightly on my arm, it was enough to hurt, but she on the other hand just shrugs it off.

"So what was that all about?" she asks instead.

"What was what about?" I reply with a question of my own. Lucy makes a face and doesn't answer, maybe she forgot?

"Never mind. Did you put anything else in my bandages? My arms' been really itchy all morning," I complain looking down and really wanting to just reach over and scratch my arm but I resist and try to think about something else to distract myself while Lucy finally speaks.

"No. Your problem is that you're not supposed to get water on them," she replies gesturing to the water soaked bandages, but then pauses as if thinking about something else. I stare at her confused when she starts giggling, "wait I think that might have been my fault. After I threw that bucket of water at you," she admits.

"That was you, wasn't it!" I say and reach out to scratch my arm only to have her smack it away.

"Heh yep... Oh don't give me that look; you're the one who didn't want to wake up. What else could I do when everything else failed, hmm?" I couldn't help but glare at her for a moment resisting a new urge, the urge to reach over and just smack her lightly upside the head. Lucy simply stuck her tongue out playfully to annoy me a bit further.

"Where were you anyway?" I ask remembering that I couldn't find her earlier today.

"Well, after we ran out of your room, I figured I didn't want to wait for you seeing as you'd probably be mad at me so I went to have a quick look around the place, but you know place turned out to be kinda boring," she shrugged, "I was planning on going to the Hydra Marshes not far from here to the east, but that old man took most of my stuff. My bow, arrows, my dagger, and my elements all taken away," she pouted, I guess she didn't take that too well.

"Anyway, Serge had gone off to Cape Howl and since I figured you were up now because of my little wake up call, I thought I should go looking for him to let him know. It didn't take long since he was already heading back here, and well the rest is history." she says. I nod, they probably got here the minute I ran out of Leena's house and started throwing up.

I watch as Lucy finishes removing the dressings and we both look down at the same time seeing something I seriously hoped wouldn't show up. Three long gashes across my arm were no longer pink but a dark reddish color instead. Though what caught our attention was the mix of yellow, red, and especially the dark purple that now spread around the wound and most of my lower arm. Lucy quickly released my arm as if afraid that it might be contagious, I didn't blame her.

"That wasn't there yesterday," she points to my arm a look of confusion laced with revulsion. I knew that look from before. I say nothing and only stare at the marks. They were exactly like the ones on my back. I think back that, Lucy had seen me removing my shirt the other day and I'm sure at the moment that she was probably putting two and two together and realizing the same.

"It's exactly the same as with your ba-"

"It's nothing," I blurt out stopping her before she can say more. She blinks few times and stares at me, then back to my arm. "It just comes and goes," I manage to say, "by two days it will probably be gone again."

"That's very…" but she doesn't get to finish as Leena reappears holding a bucket by the handle. I quickly pull away and hid my arm behind my back.

"Are you feeling better?" Leena asks as she walks in.

"I, uh, yeah. I'm feeling a bit better," I say eyeing the bucket in her hand, "err... what's with that?" I ask. Leena raises it to eye level, tips it over slightly revealing that it was empty before setting it down on the floor.

"This? Oh that's in case you throw up again," she says. I look around at the mess I left behind, and rub the back of my head embarrassingly. "I'm terribly sorry about that. This doesn't happen to me very often."

"What, the whole running around out of your mind ordeal? Or the barfing outside my house?" she asks, Lucy stares at me curious for my answer.

"Err...both," I retort.

"But you're okay now right? My mom would kill me if she saw this mess, not to mention the table you broke." I lowered my head apologetically. "Sorry... err...if you give me a chance I'll clean it right up. It's the least I can do."

"What happened anyway?" Lucy asks. They both ignored me and Leena went on to tell her that she was showing me around her house. I shuddered when she mention the event with the cat.

"Ohh. Well yeah, Len's afraid of cats. He gets very panicky at the sight of them, right Len?"

"Are you really?" Leena looks at me with a thoughtful expression on her face. I feel my cheeks redden, and I nod. She remains silent as if lost in her thoughts for a couple of seconds.

"The sight of one, probably set Len in a panic so bad, he threw up in fright. Though I don't think I've ever heard of anyone throwing up with fright at the sight of a plain ol kitty cat." Lucy says scratching her cheek in wonder.

"It wasn't the cat," I mutter. "I think it may have been something I ate, it always happens when I eat something I shouldn't have."

"Hmm? Like what?"

"Well, when I was younger, I got really sick with a fever and all, and it got so bad that I couldn't eat anything because everything would make me ill," I say fabricating a hopefully convincing story, though technically that was true. "I got better after a few weeks, but to this day I still can't eat certain foods without, you know."

"So, it's like an allergy?" Lucy says.

"I think so. After a while, it was only meats and sometimes fish that made me sick, so I avoid them as much as possible. There are those few times when I'm not so luck-" I notice before I even finish that there was a horrified look on Leena's face, both her hands covered her mouth as if resisting the urge to gasp.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"I'm so sorry," she blurts out leaving Lucy and I confused.

"Err...For what?"

"Don't you remember? That stew we ate today?" I knew she was trying to hint at something, but I wasn't sure what that was.

"...Yeah," I say slowly not understanding what she was getting at, "but that was just a vegetable stew... I'm used to vegetables, so there's way I could have gotten sick because of them."

"Wait a minute," Lucy interrupts, "you ate lunch and you didn't even save me any? Psh, some friend you are." She pouts and stomps her foot.

"Well what did you expect, you weren't even here, and Leena was the one who paid for it anyway," I retort.

"Still."

"Alright you two," Leena cuts our argument short. We both turn and look back to her. "I didn't know about your allergy and if I had I probably would have picked something other than Fish and Vegetable soup."

"But there wasn't… I would have," Leena shook her head. "Belcha kinda likes to mash it up so you can't really tell it's there but you can certainly taste it. But I guess if you've never tasted then you wouldn't really know, right?"

"Oh," I groan slumping back down on my seat.

"I'm so sorry. This is practically my fault, I should have asked first before dragging you over there in such a hurry." She says blaming herself for what happened.

"No," I say. "It's my fault for being so careless, not to mention forgetful. I should have told you beforehand."

"I guess we both messed up," Leena says, though this time she was the one who was embarrassed.

"But you know," I muse, "it didn't taste bad at all, I kinda liked it." I can't help but laugh for a second or two, Leena just gives me a funny look. "I guess it must sound strange for me to say that, considering it's something that would only make me sick."

"Yeah," Leena giggles for a moment.

Lucy doesn't look too happy. "All this talk about food is making me hungry, so if you two will excuse me, I'm going to get some of that soup you keep talking about. See ya,"

"Wait, what about my bandages?" I say and she pauses in front of the door.

"Leena can take care of that. Serge said you were really good at that sort of stuff," Lucy says before leaving, causing Leena to blush. I think the sight of my arm must have upset her more than I thought it would. I wonder if Leena would feel the same if she saw how bad it looked.

"I don't mind," Leena says as I turn to face her.

"I wouldn't be too sure," I say and I raised my arm slowly, giving her a good view of the wound that the Dodo had left me and the ugly bruise-looking markings that had spread from it. I waited, studying her face to see if this startled her. If it did she must have been really good at hiding it, because she didn't back away the way Lucy had. Instead she has this look of concern on her face, and she slowly grabbed my arm.

"Does it hurt?" She asks being quite gentle about it. "Just where it cut me," I say, showing her the deep gashes.

"What happened? It looks so horrible... Does this have something to do with your sickness?" Leena asks. Curiosity seemed to replace concern and I let out a slight sigh of relief.

"I don't know for sure, I've been this way since as long as I could remember, to be honest," which was also technically true. "It just comes and goes, but I don't think it's contagious. Err I mean, I've been around a lot of people, and no one has ever gotten sick by being near me, so…" Leena inched closer staring thoughtfully at the discoloration that surrounded not just the wound but most of the my forearm.

"Maybe it's bleeding internally, but you can't feel it. I've heard stories of people who get hurt really bad, but look okay on the outside and next thing you know they just die. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before, this could be serious," she says somewhat alarmed.

"How can we be sure it is?" I say thinking about it. I try to scratch around the wound, but Leena gives me a quick disapproving look afraid that I might make things worse so I restrain myself.

"Hmm, well maybe you could consider seeing a doctor and get yourself thoroughly checked. You never know," she says concern back on her face. "We don't have much that could help you, but if you want to prevent an infection, I got just the thing." she says, and lets go of my arm and she leaves the room. "Now where did I leave it. Hmmm… no, not there…"

"Need any help?"

"No I got it," she says and returns holding a small porcelain jar in her hand. "My gramdma's special homemade remedy." She hands it to me and departs once more in search of something else. I opened the lid and poked at the contents. It looked like a cream, greenish-yellow in color, very cold and slimy to the touch, and it smelled like flowers.

"We use it when we're on short supply of Elements. It helps cuts heal faster, it's useful as an ointment when you're burned, and it makes a good lotion too," Leena explains as she returns and sits down holding a roll of bandages. "But I wouldn't recommend eating it," she says noticing that I was smelling it. I wipe it off on my wrist, not letting it go to waste.

"It might take a while for it to start working, but you should notice some improvement within a couple of hours."

"Will it sting?" I ask remembering the last time I had a strange substance on my arm.

"Just a bit," she said and took the jar from my hand dabbed at the cream with a cloth and spread a rather generous amount all over my arm. I was ready this time, but that did little to help. It still stung as much as it did yesterday, particularly around the inside, but it lasted less. After that I felt a cool sensation spread throughout my arm, and it stopped the itch.

"Better?"

"Yeah, definitely," I reply to which she smiled. After that, she started applying bandages once more, covering up the markings from sight. I inspected my arm and it looked just as it had yesterday, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Thanks."

"No problem. But you know this isn't a permanent solution. When whatever it is that you're doing is done, I suggest you get that looked at by a doctor, it could be serious you know," she says, and I can tell that she was genuinely concerned for my health. It was kind of strange yet comforting.

"I will," I say as I stand up. I look at the broken table. "If there's anything you need. I mean I'm really handy at fixing things up a bit. And I really do owe you."

"Oh No, I mean, I just wanted to help to make up for making you sick."

"But you had no way of knowing, and I did break your things, after you invited me here," I glance around hoping that cat thing didn't show up again.

"That is true. But you can do that later. Serge and the Chief were hoping to talk to you, and here I am making them wait."

* * *

I promised Leena I would return after I spoke with the Sir Radius and Serge. She said they would be waiting for me in the Chief's Hut. I still felt a bit anxious, and hoped I wouldn't mess it up by throwing up again. The villagers glanced at me, but every time I looked at them, they'd look away and continued doing what they were doing. Okay so she said that the Chief's hut was past her house, but the all looked the same, so I had to ask someone for directions. Just my luck to run into the same boy from last night, when I asked, he didn't seem to mind and lead me to the front door.

"Good Luck," he says and walks away as I make my way inside.

Sir Radius was pacing back and forth, cane in hand while Serge sat on a chair, an expression on his face that I couldn't quite identify. They stopped and looked at me when I came in.

"Sorry I'm late." I say.

"Sit," is all Sir Radius says strictly, pointing to a spare seat on the other side. I quickly take my seat and wait, as he starts pacing again. I glance at Serge for a moment and he stared back silently. I wonder what was going through his mind as he watched me. What did he know? Did he wonder why we looked alike, or did he already know? Could he help me? Was he thinking he same thing? He looked away towards the older man. His expression changed to shock, I turned to look and found myself staring dumbly as a blade comes crashing down towards me. I don't have much time to act and can only try to shield myself with my arms.

"Wah!"

* * *

**To Be Continued. **

**AN**: I'm sorry. **-_-' **


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